Hydraulic Nodes of Empire - Redux: Evaluating the role of artificial water tanks as indicators of territorial control in Cambodia’s medieval landscape (6th to 15th c. CE)

Summary

Elaborate water management systems in the form canals, bridges and massive reservoirs (baray) are a defining characteristic of medieval Khmer occupation across their former territories in mainland SE Asia. Beyond the cities, hydraulic control is further manifest in the widespread distribution of smaller water tanks (trapeang) visible across Cambodia and southern Laos. Found variously in association with temples, road infrastructure and settlement mounds these reservoirs represent a key data set for understanding the religious, political and socio-economic structure of the Khmer landscape. Using high-resolution imagery from GoogleEarth, this paper re-examines the formal and spatial variation of these hydraulic nodes with a particular focus on identifying temporal trends associated with specific architectural phases during the Angkorian period (9th to 15th c. CE). The results provide a more holistic view of Khmer settlement patterns that interrelate directly with the periods of development, expansion and downfall of the Khmer Empire.

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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

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