Tuesday, August 14, 2007

New Info on Angkor

Angkor Wat has been a World Heritage site since 1992. The city, built by the Khmer Empire, thrived for six centuries. In recent years (it was abandoned in 16th century) the ruins of Angkor were endangered by war in Cambodia, looting, and the plain old ravages of time.

It's back in the news now because (as the BBC puts it):

Using NASA satellites, an international team have discovered at least 74 new temples and complex irrigation systems.
The map, published in the journal PNAS, extends the known settlement by 1000 sq km, about the size of Los Angeles.

Archaeologists now guess that a million people lived in Angkor, that the city spread out over 115 square miles, and that it depended on diverting and managing the waterways to survive.

News stories are everywhere, but check out Angkor.com too, for more of the history and context. I borrowed the picture from them.

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