"Reconstructing" an archaeological landscape of NW Cambodia beyond the borders of the Greater Angkor using satellite imaging.

Summary

Prehistoric and historic societies have established the material dimension of space through either the physical alteration of the landscape or the formalised recognition of space. Although the latter aspect is rather difficult to trace archaeologically through the use of aerial images, physical modifications of the landscape are often still visible.

The northern part of Tonle Sap basin were subjected to intensive survey using satellite imaging in order to identify anthropogenic adjustments on the surface. As a result, a wide range of archaeological features, primarily occupational mounds, moats and field systems, were recognized. Documented structures reveal a populated landscape of rice farmers who cultivated their fields radiating from the circular, inhabited mounds. At substantial parts of several sites, past inhabitants took a further step to alter their environment by digging a moat. The current issue that is under an extensive investigation is to understand how this landscape contributed the cultural processes that shaped the Greater Angkor as a low-density urban complex.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Recent Advances in the Settlement and Landscape Archaeology of Southwest China and Southeast Asia Part I: The Macro Perspective: Spatial Analysis and Subsistence Systems

Keywords

Spatial Coverage