The Challenge of the Grid: A Conceptual Frontier in Angkor?

Summary

For a quarter of a century, the concepts of an open city and a low density urban megalopolis have largely broadened our understanding of Angkor (Cambodia), which was based on the morpho-chronological vision of a succession of perfectly geometric walled cities. As the researches progressed, the identification of the elements that make up the archaeological landscape of the Great Angkor has been developed, mixing temples, palaces, settlements, reservoirs, road networks, hydraulic systems and agricultural parcels. The texture of the urban fabric now appears in its complexity, and underlines the omnipresence of geometry and, in particular, of the grid as a vector of spatial planning and a tool of a centralized state power. The presentation will focus on exploring this theme based on the region of the western baray in Angkor where recent research revealed the remains of the first Angkorian capital in one of the last unexplored areas of Angkor.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21644