Urban Life Histories, Long-Term Angkorian Urbanism, and the Kok Phnov Site

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Angkor was premodern Southeast Asia’s largest city from the ninth to fifteenth century. Centered in northwest Cambodia near the Tonle Sap Lake, this agro-urban agglomeration comprises extensive settlements linked through a series of road and water management systems. Research on Angkorian urbanism has focused on either its monumental architecture or shifts in general settlement planning throughout its life history. During the city’s early phase of development, ritual and habitation spaces were oriented axially in an open and loosely structured system. During the twelfth–thirteenth centuries, Angkor increased in density and shifted to a highly structured and gridded settlement plan. However, this did not take place uniformly across the civic-ceremonial center. This paper discusses these changes using two components of Angkor’s urban space: the Eastern District and its associated neighborhoods. Located adjacent south of the East Baray, this area became an affluent urban space surrounding the tenth-century Pre Rup state temple. Blending excavation and spatial data from Kok Phnov site and its surrounding area offers insights into the social construction of and resilience in Angkorian neighborhoods within the Eastern District. Angkorian urbanism was dynamic and characterized by continuities and changes in occupation density and social structure throughout its life history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32326