Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning at Phnom Kulen

Chevance, Jean Baptiste; Evans, Damian; Hofer, Nina; Sakhoeun, Sakada; Chhean, Ratha

doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.133

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…To this day, the paved highway to Koh Ker stops several kilometers from the main complexes, and access to the temples remains by way of the original, narrow dirt road. Similar interventions against road works in sensitive archaeological zones have also taken place recently in Phnom Kulen, in the north of the Angkor region, where another early capital remains substantially hidden beneath the forest (Chevance et al 2019; Jean-Baptiste Chevance pers. comm.).…”

Section: Accessibility and Disseminationmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…In South America, lidar data have the potential to transform the way that we think about and preserve vast areas of the Amazon Basin (Iriarte et al, in prep;Khan, Aragão and Iriarte 2017;Stenborg, Schaan and Figueiredo 2018). Ongoing work at early urban centers in Cambodia, notably in the Angkor region, is also contributing to new insights into urban planning, water management, and landscape engineering in heavily forested settings (Chevance et al 2019;Evans et al 2013;Evans and Fletcher 2015;Klassen, Weed and Evans 2018). In sum, archaeological lidar has moved well beyond making beautiful image products and improving survey techniques, and we argue that the time has, therefore, come to systematically confront the ethical concerns that have been raised.…”

Section: Lidar and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethics in Archaeological Lidar

Cohen

Klassen

Evans

2020

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology

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Airborne laser scanning or lidar has now been used by archaeologists for twenty years, with many of the first applications relying on data acquired by public agencies seeking to establish baseline elevation maps, mainly in Europe and North America. More recently, several wide-area acquisitions have been designed and commissioned by archaeologists, the most extensive of which cover tropical forest environments in the Americas and Southeast Asia. In these regions, the ability of lidar to map microtopographic relief and reveal anthropogenic traces on the Earth's surface, even beneath dense vegetation, has been welcomed by many as a transformational breakthrough in our field of research. Nevertheless, applications of the method have attracted a measure of criticism and controversy, and the impact and significance of lidar are still debated. Now that wide-area, high-density laser scanning is becoming a standard part of many archaeologists' toolkits, it is an opportune moment to reflect on its position in contemporary archaeological practice and to move towards a code of ethics that is vital for scientific research. The papers in this Special Collection draw on experiences with using lidar in archaeological research programs, not only to highlight the new insights that derive from it but also to cast a critical eye on past practices and to assess what challenges and opportunities remain for developing codes of ethics. Using examples from a range of countries and environments, contributions revolve around three key themes: data management and access; the role of stakeholders; and public education. We draw on our collective experiences to propose a range of improvements in how we collect, use, and share lidar data, and we argue that as lidar acquisitions mature we are well positioned to produce ethical, impactful, and reproducible research using the technique.

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Section: Accessibility and Disseminationmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Lidar and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethics in Archaeological Lidar

Cohen

Klassen

Evans

2020

Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology

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“…Intensive mapping projects over the past 30 years have led to a comprehensive map of the Greater Angkor Region ( 4 – 7 , 32 ). The study area for this work encompasses an area of approximately 3000 km 2 , a somewhat arbitrary boundary that is based on the watershed catchment boundaries of Angkor’s rivers ( 4 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex

et al. 2021

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Angkor is one of the world’s largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), but to date, no comprehensive demographic study has been completed, and key aspects of its population and demographic history remain unknown. Here, we combine lidar, archaeological excavation data, radiocarbon dates, and machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the development of the city and its population growth through time. We conclude that the Greater Angkor Region was home to approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its apogee in the 13th century CE. This granular, diachronic, paleodemographic model of the Angkor complex can be applied to any ancient civilization.

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“…This relates, partly, to the nearly flat alluvial plain on which Angkor was sited, which does not facilitate mass movement. It is only in the higher-relief sandstone uplands of the Kulen hills to the north of Angkor that the deposition of thick beds of pure sand can be observed between the mid 9th and late 11th centuries CE (58), likely related to the development of the massive urban center there (59). Within the lowland cities of Khmer, the flux of mineral sediment from disturbed catchments to temple moats and reservoirs has been used to track land use and land abandonment (e.g., refs.…”

Section: Collapse and Landscape Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical socioecological transformations in the global tropics as an Anthropocene analogue

Penny

Beach

2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Large, low-density settlements of the tropical world disintegrated during the first and second millennia of the CE. This phenomenon, which occurred in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica, is strongly associated with climate variability and extensive landscape transformation. These profound social transformations in the tropical world have been popularized as “collapse,” yet archaeological evidence suggests a more complex and nuanced story characterized by persistence, adaptation, and resilience at the local and regional scales. The resulting tension between ideas of climate-driven collapse and evidence for diverse social responses challenges our understanding of long-term resilience and vulnerability to environmental change in the global tropics. Here, we compare the archetypal urban collapse of the Maya, in modern Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, during the 8th to 11th centuries CE, and the Khmer in modern Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam during the 14th to 15th centuries CE. We argue that the social response to environmental stress is spatially and temporally heterogenous, reflecting the generation of large-scale landesque capital surrounding the urban cores. Divergences between vulnerable urban elite and apparently resilient dispersed agricultural settlements sit uncomfortably with simplistic notions of social collapse and raise important questions for humanity as we move deeper into the Anthropocene.

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Mahendraparvata: an early Angkor-period capital defined through airborne laser scanning at Phnom Kulen

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 19 publications

References 22 publications

Ethics in Archaeological Lidar

Ethics in Archaeological Lidar

Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex

Historical socioecological transformations in the global tropics as an Anthropocene analogue

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