Overview
The project is investigating the relationship between the vast extent of Angkor from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries CE, land clearance for rice production and regional ecological impacts that may have played a part in its decline.
Web site
Greater Angkor Project
Schedule
2002 - 2009
Large Project
ARC Discovery Grant $1,200,000
Chief Investigators
Roland Fletcher, University of Sydney
Daniel Penny, University of Sydney
Mike Barbetti, University of Queensland
Christophe Pottier, Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) - Angkor
Main participants
The University of Sydney
APSARA Authority , Cambodia
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) - Angkor
Partners
UNESCO
Description
The vast, low-density urban complex of Angkor , the medieval Cambodian capital, covered about 1000 square kilometres - the most extensive city of its kind in the pre-industrial world. Established in the ninth century, Angkor is the site of the largest single concentration of shrines on Earth and humanity's largest religious monument, Angkor Wat. Massive reservoirs, up to eight kilometres long and two kilometres wide, were linked to an enormous water management infrastructure of channels and embankments. Yet, despite the sheer physical enormity of the city, the urban world of Angkor was gone by the eighteenth century. Forest reclaimed much of the urban landscape. The water management infrastructure collapsed. Former canals have eroded 5-10 metres below ground-level. Others are choked with sand.
The ACL provides all administrative support, technical infrastructure, maintenance of data and GIS expertise for the GAP and LWH projects, as well as support for mounting the successful grant applications. There are over a dozen PhD students associated directly with the projects.
Outcomes
The project will provide APSARA and the UNESCO International Co-ordinating Committee with a new perspective on the magnitude of the city and the operation and significance of its water management system. This is highly significant for the Cambodian government.
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