Angkor Wat Brought Down by Overpopulation, Study Suggests
RolandTD20Kdrummer
Posts: 13,066
If you're familiar and/or somewhat fascinated with Angkor Wat...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070813-angkor-wat.html
"Sprawling City
But in 1992 archaeologist Christophe Pottier reopened EFEO and began surveying the surrounding region by motorbike, using aerial photographs and earlier radar images to guide his exploration.
Most recently the Greater Angkor Project commissioned a series of radar images from NASA with much finer resolution, which archaeologist Damian Evans of the University of Sydney combined with maps Pottier had compiled.
The new archaeological map reveals medieval suburbs spreading from the shores of Cambodia's Tonle Sap to the Kulen highlands to the north (see a map of Cambodia).
At more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,160 square miles) it is the largest settlement ever found from the preindustrial world, the authors say.
"The scale is really unlike anything else," said archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University, noting that it dwarfs the large Mesoamerican cities that are the subject of his own work. (Related: "Oldest Intact Maya Mural Found in Guatemala" [March 22, 2002].)
The people who built greater Angkor were accomplished civil engineers, he added.
"It's amazing the amount of earth they moved."
Rectangular embankments enclosed artificial ponds and probable rice paddies, while earthen mounds lifted houses to avoid seasonal floods.
The waterworks also diverted water from the Puok, Roluos, and Siem Reap rivers to reservoirs that could be drained to irrigate crops or filled to dampen extreme flooding, Evans's team reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy this week. "
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070813-angkor-wat.html
"Sprawling City
But in 1992 archaeologist Christophe Pottier reopened EFEO and began surveying the surrounding region by motorbike, using aerial photographs and earlier radar images to guide his exploration.
Most recently the Greater Angkor Project commissioned a series of radar images from NASA with much finer resolution, which archaeologist Damian Evans of the University of Sydney combined with maps Pottier had compiled.
The new archaeological map reveals medieval suburbs spreading from the shores of Cambodia's Tonle Sap to the Kulen highlands to the north (see a map of Cambodia).
At more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,160 square miles) it is the largest settlement ever found from the preindustrial world, the authors say.
"The scale is really unlike anything else," said archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University, noting that it dwarfs the large Mesoamerican cities that are the subject of his own work. (Related: "Oldest Intact Maya Mural Found in Guatemala" [March 22, 2002].)
The people who built greater Angkor were accomplished civil engineers, he added.
"It's amazing the amount of earth they moved."
Rectangular embankments enclosed artificial ponds and probable rice paddies, while earthen mounds lifted houses to avoid seasonal floods.
The waterworks also diverted water from the Puok, Roluos, and Siem Reap rivers to reservoirs that could be drained to irrigate crops or filled to dampen extreme flooding, Evans's team reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy this week. "
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
0