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Vegetation and land-use at Angkor, Cambodia: a dated pollen sequence from the Bakong temple moat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Dan Penny ,
Christophe Pottier ,
Roland Fletcher ,
Mike Barbetti ,
David Fink  and
Quan Hua
Dan Penny
Affiliation:
1School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia (Email: d.penny@geosci.usyd.edu.au)
Christophe Pottier
Affiliation:
2Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient, P.O. Box 93300, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Roland Fletcher
Affiliation:
3Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Mike Barbetti
Affiliation:
4NWG Macintosh Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
David Fink
Affiliation:
5Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB No. 1, Menai, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
Quan Hua
Affiliation:
5Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB No. 1, Menai, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia
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Extract

Investigating the use of land during the medieval period at the celebrated ceremonial area of Angkor, the authors took a soil column over 2.5m deep from the inner moat of the Bakong temple. The dated pollen sequence showed that the temple moat was dug in the eighth century AD and that the agriculture of the immediate area subsequently flourished. In the tenth century AD agriculture declined and the moat became choked with water-plants. It was at this time, according to historical documents, that a new centre at Phnom Bakeng was founded by Yasovarman I.

Keywords

AngkorCambodiaSoutheast AsiapalynologyBorassusagriculture
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 309 , 1 September 2006 , pp. 599 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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