Cambodia's Vast Medieval Cities Hidden Beneath the Jungle

Revealed Undocumented Medieval Cities – Temple City of Angkor Wat

Cambodian archaeologists have discovered various earlier undocumented medieval cities near the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat. The Guardian can reveal in revolutionary discoveries which tend to turn overkey assumption regarding the history of the south-east Asia. Dr Damian Evans, the Australian archaeologist, whose discoveries had been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science recently, would be announcing that cutting edge airborne laser scanning technology has exposed several cities between 900 and 1,400 years old below the tropical forest ground, some of which tend to oppose the size of the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

Some of the experts are of the belief that the recently studied data, taken in 2015 at the time of the extensive airborne study that was undertaken by an archaeological project over a span of 734 sq. km indicates that the massive thickly populated cities could have founded the biggest empire on earth during the time of its peak in the 12th century.Evans has informed that they have entire cities discovered below the forest which no one is aware of, at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay and it seems that they have uncovered only a section of Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen and this time they have got the whole deal which is big, the size of Phnom Penh.

European Research Council – ERC Funding

For the project, Evans had attained European Research Council – ERC funding, based on the success of his first light detection and ranging survey in 2012, in Cambodia which had discovered a difficult urban landscape linking medieval temple-cities like Beng Mealea and Koh Ker, to Angkor and had confirmed what the archaeologist had long ago assumed that there seems to be a city below Mount Kulen.

 It was till the results of the bigger survey of 2015 had been analysed that the size of the city was obvious. The survey had discovered a collection of findings, inclusive of intricate water systems which were built hundreds of years before the historians had believed that the technology prevailed. These discoveries are projected to challenge theories on how the empire of Khmer had been established, dominated the region and decline towards the 15th century as well as the role of climate change together with the water management in the process.

Highly Refined Water Management System

The temple ruins of Angkor that stretches across the UNESCO protected Angkor archaeological park seem to be the country’s highest destination for tourists, with the main temple city, Angkor Wat seen on the national flag of Cambodia.

The presumed decline of Angkor has long engaged the archaeologists, taking into account the most extensive urban settlement of pre-industrial times as well as boasting on the highly refined water management system. The new cities have been discovered through firing lasers to the ground from helicopter in producing tremendously detailed imagery of the surface of the Earth.

 Evans has mentioned that the airborne laser scanners had also recognized huge numbers of enigmatic geometric pattern that had been formed from earthen mounds that could have been gardens. Emeritus professor of anthropology at Yale University and one of the distinguished archaeologist, Michael Coe, specialising in Angkor and the Khmer civilization has stated from Long Island in the US, that he thinks these airborne laser findings symbols the greatest progress in the past 50 or even 100 years of knowledge of Angkorian civilization.