Angkor

Abstract
In mainland Southeast Asia, the so-called water frontier unified an otherwise geographically broad and culturally disparate economic network of long-, medium-, and short-distance trading of the 14th–17th century CE "Age of Commerce." Focus on the rise of the larger port towns supporting this burgeoning maritime trade (e.g., Ayutthaya, Melaka, Hoi An) has overshadowed smaller maritime operations that must have serviced less regulated coastlines. In this paper, we evaluate the evidence of likely supply lines for relatively remote sites in the Southern Cardamom Ranges of southwestern Cambodia.We present the results of a geochemical analysis of ceramics from two contemporary and short-lived assemblages: comprehensively dated mid-15th c. to mid-17th c. CE burial complexes in the Cardamom Mountains, and a dated shipwreck (Koh S’dech) recovered from waters off the adjacent coastline. We compare the shipwreck assemblage with other wreck assemblages to contextualize it within larger maritime exchange patterns. The Koh S’dech wreck assemblage appears typical of a Southeast Asian short-haul coastal trader of this period, with a cargo consisting of a range of utilitarian household ceramics: large, medium, and small glazed stoneware storage jars, earthenware cooking pots, stoves and mortars, and Btableware^ bowls. Comparison of burial, shipwreck, and reference ceramic compositional data confirms the jars and fine wares predominantly came from multiple production centers in Central and Northern Thailand. The few Angkorian jars identified in the burials were evidently heirlooms from what was, by the mid-15th c. CE, a defunct Khmer production complex east of Angkor. The results of this provenience analysis highlight (a) the Cardamom burials as an example of previously undocumented unregulated coastal interaction and (b) the relatively sophisticated
and coordinated market-oriented strategies of inland ceramic producers at this time. For mainland Southeast Asia, the water frontier integrated not only ethnically diverse maritime port communities, but also those in more remote inland regions.
Keywords Age of Commerce . Neutron activation analysis . Shipwreck

We report analytical results for stoneware samples from four excavated Angkor-period kilns in the Greater Angkor area. Previous work has suggested that establishing distinct
chemical signatures for kiln complexes in this region is problematic. The current study highlights the effectiveness of neutron activation analysis (NAA) for differentiating the
products of Angkorian kiln complexes; it also confirms the viability of a larger-scale research programme to understand the relationship between Khmer stoneware production
and patterns of distribution across the wider Angkorian territory. Evidence of ceramics excavated at kiln sites but produced elsewhere highlights the complexity of consumption patterns during the Angkorian period.

Complex infrastructural networks provide critical services to cities but can be vulnerable to external stresses, including climatic variability. This vulnerability has also challenged past urban settlements, but its role in cases of historic urban demise has not been precisely documented. We transform archeological data from the medieval Cambodian city of Angkor into a numerical model that allows us to quantify topological damage to critical urban infrastructure resulting from climatic variability. Our model reveals unstable behavior in which extensive and cascading damage to infrastructure occurs in response to flooding within Angkor's urban water management system. The likelihood and extent of the cascading failure abruptly grow with the magnitude of flooding relative to normal flows in the system. Our results support the hypothesis that systemic infrastructural vulnerability, coupled with abrupt climatic variation, contributed to the demise of the city. The factors behind Angkor's demise are analogous to challenges faced by modern urban communities struggling with complex critical infrastructure.

The region around Phnom Dek in Northern Cambodia represents a vast metallurgical landscape with evidence for mining and smelting of iron spanning over a millennium of smelting activities (7th to 20th centuries CE). Research conducted over the past decade in this region has expanded our understanding of the resources, production , technological evidence and furnace structures used during the Angkor period (11 th c.-14 th c.). In December 2018, a first experimental attempt at reducing iron ore mined from the historic source at Phnom Dek was conducted at the Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Center in Siem Reap/Angkor (Cambodia). The experimental research was designed to achieve several interconnected objectives. The aim of our study is not only to address technical questions relative to the metallurgical traits of the furnace and the metallurgical process employed during the late Angkor period, but also to provide new data to clarify the interpretations resulting from the provenance and iron dating analyses that assist in interpretations relating to production and consumption practices. Both the archaeological evidence and ethnographic descriptions were combined to reproduce the experimental furnace. This paper summarizes the preliminary results and provides information on the late Angkorian smelting process and on the accuracy and variabilities of the archaeometric data including prove-nance and iron dating.

Until recently sites of artistic production as well as the methods of manufacture in the Khmer kingdom were unknown. For the first time in Southeast Asia, a multi-disciplinary project has identified a historic bronze workshop where both statues and objects were crafted, and has united this discovery with characterisation of manufacturing debris. Preliminary results from surveys, excavations and material analyses, north of the Royal Palace in Angkor Thom, reveal much about Angkorian copper-based metallurgy. The close proximity to the Royal Palace complex suggests the atelier was of considerable importance to the political elite who commissioned its products to furnish its palaces and temples with objects, and to legitimise its rule with images of the gods. Complementary technical investigations into archaeometallurgical materials such as technical ceramics (crucibles, moulds, remains of wall furnaces), copper objects and foundry waste, iron objects, slags, and stone and ceramic tools can appraise the foundry practices privileged by pre-modern craft specialists.

Polkinghorne, M., Vincent, B., Thomas, N., Bourgarit, D. 2014 “Casting for the King: The Royal Palace Bronze workshop of Angkor Thom”, in Bulletin l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient (BEFEO), vol. 100: 327 - 358.

It is the desire of stone conservators to preserve bas-reliefs endangered by acid rain, vandalism and structural instabilities. Documenting these bas-reliefs digitally will help minimizing the dangers of working on fragile structures while handling and analysing such large data sets is a new challenge for scientific computing in cultural heritage. From our experience in related research we developed a rapid workflow for 3D acquisition and visualization. It uses a close-range 3D scanner based on structured light and stereo vision. This paper shows the work done during our field trip in Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia where the temple complex is strongly endangered and large parts are already collapsed. The outcome of this digital documentation is a large collection of high-resolution 3D models each featuring a spatial resolution of 50-100μm. To extract more information about iconographic details we developed a new method of visualization using Multi Scale Integral Invariant surface filtering.

Between the 9th and 15th centuries CE the builders and artisans of Angkor and its territories furnished their landscapes with thousands of temples and tens of thousands of sacred sculptures, yet the operational behaviour of these craft specialists is little known. This article presents the results of excavations and materials analysis from a centre of sandstone production for the classic period Angkorian city of Hariharālaya and appraises the procurement of raw materials, manufacturing methods, and sites of production for the makers of temples and sculptures. A production site associated with the temple of Bakong was identified by surface remains of sandstone debitage and unfinished sculptures. Excavation revealed a 9th-century building associated with large-scale sandstone waste deposits and another phase of sculpture production in the 12th and 13th centuries. A study of sandstone characterisation was applied to in situ production waste, unfinished sculptures from the workshop, and on completed works. Comparison of samples from the workshop and associated temples with sculptures from Cambodian and international collections suggest the site was likely used as a dump for construction of nearby temples and later to produce images of the gods destined for veneration. Moreover, the workshop was part of a network of craft specialists who sourced many thousands of tons of specific sandstone across the Angkorian landscape.

Polkinghorne, M., Douglas, J..and Carò, F., 2015. “Carving at the Capital: A stone workshop at Hariharālaya, Angkor", in Bulletin l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient (BEFEO), vol. 101: 55 - 90.

The 1993 UN-mediated elections signaled Cambodia's emergence from nearly four decades of political turmoil and civil war, but it took more than five years for the country to subdue insurgencies within its borders. That Cambodia's archaeological record survived the world's many 20th century wars and protracted local conflict is a testimony both to the importance of Angkor to the Cambodian people, and to the generations of archaeologists who have devoted their lives to historic preservation. This chapter grounds it archaeological perspectives on heritage and capacity-building in Cambodia in an historical framework to offer insights to heritage specialists working in post-conflict countries globally.

The production of Khmer roof tiles underwent dramatic technical and stylistic changes during the pre-Angkorian (ca. C.E. 500-802) and Angkorian (C.E. 802-1431) periods. It has long been assumed that the regional expansion of Khmer political power and its intensive interregional trade and interactions with China during the Angkorian period were crucial factors in this transformation. This article presents the first integrated study on the production sequence and usage of Khmer roof tiles in Angkor (Cambodia) and its provincial centers in Northeast Thailand. Furthermore, it evaluates the extent to which the Khmer people made technological and social choices as they embraced new ceramic manufacturing technologies. Combining archaeological excavation findings with comparative analyses of two regions, this study argues that the contact the Khmer had with China motivated Khmer to begin roof tile production for elite residences and temples. The subsequent Khmer local architectural tradition is defined by distinctive production techniques of Khmer roof tiles and ancient ranking systems for roof tile usage in the greater Angkorian region. This article makes important observations about the specific choices that were made in the process of emulating the roof tile tradition. Roof tile manufacture and usage were ways for Khmer rulers to establish the legitimacy of their polities in mainland Southeast Asia.

The Industries of Angkor Project (INDAP) is the first intensive investigation into the history and role of iron production at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (Preah Khan), the largest regional enclosure complex built by the Angkorian Khmer (9th to 15th c. CE) in Cambodia. We present the initial multidisciplinary research of the primary iron smelting sites located on Boeng Kroam, a large reservoir located north of Preah Khan's central temple complex. Ground-penetrating radar surveys and excavation at Location 1, a slag concentration on top of the reservoir bank, revealed that it is a deposit of metallurgical waste from a nearby furnace. Multiple radiocarbon dates from Location 1 indicate that the smelting activities took place in the early 15th century during the time of Angkor's ultimate collapse as the political centre of the Khmer world. This indicates a re-use of spaces by iron workers after the primary occupation of Preah Khan between the 11th and 13th centuries. BACKGROUND At its peak between the 11 th to 13 th centuries CE, the Khmer Empire stretched across large swathes of mainland Southeast Asia. Along its great roadways this empire established large provincial administrative centres that may have played a critical role in ensuring access to resources and products to supply the capital, Angkor, and the expansionism of its kings. A direct implication is that the growth and decline of Angkor is traceable through an evaluation of these regional centres, which may also have acted as specialised production centres. More broadly,

The names and titles of thousands of commoners recorded on stone in temple precincts have been regarded until recently as uninteresting and incapable of providing insights into the lives of these commoners. This study indicates that numerical analyses of data on personnel can enhance understanding of their circumstances.
The continuing near equal proportions of males and females amongst the non-sanctuary personnel, and the fact that the 9th century age ranges of the minors conform to what might be expected for natural communities, indicate that these people were whole families or communities. By contrast, there are more females than males in sanctuary lists, conceivably because some roles are gender specific. The reduced recording of non-sanctuary workers, non-sanctuary children and of juveniles after the Roluos period suggests a greater focus on sanctuary operations, with non-sanctuary operations being taken more for granted, indicating that labour was easier to procure, and workers regarded increasingly as factors of agricultural output. This is consistent with the increasing number of temple complexes estab- lished from the 10th century, as well as the supporting infrastructure and industry, all suggesting growing local populations. Even though the proportions of gvāl and lap declined, they were likely counted as part of the adult workforce.
The shift to Koh Ker cannot be readily explained as driven by anticipated economic benefits. The omissions and inventions in the royal eulogies between the reigns of Yaśovarman and Rājendravarman indicate disquiet, if not discord, between opposing factions. The move of the centre from Angkor to Koh Ker might be best understood as a strategy by Jayavarman IV to weaken an opposing group and bolster his power base, allied with si. Following the return from Koh Ker to Angkor, a change in the socio-political power structure, perhaps seen in the rising influence of many officials and gho commoners, becomes apparent. Available inscriptions from the first half of the 10th century make no explicit reference to unstable political conditions during that period, but anyone familiar with the Khmer texts could not expect to find them.

À propos des « interminables listes nominatives d'esclaves » dans les inscriptions angkoriennes
Nouvelles propositions fondées sur des analyses statistiques de la main-d'œuvre mentionnée dans ces inscriptions
Cet article, fondé sur les mentions de milliers d'individus figurant dans les inscriptions entre le IXe et le XIIe siècle, étudie les changements de statut survenus pendant cette période parmi les différentes catégories de travailleurs employés dans les sanctuaires et hors des sanctuaires.
Dans une première partie, nous étudierons comment le contexte socio-écono¬mique de ces travailleurs a évolué au fil du temps et ce que les inscriptions peuvent nous révéler de la composition des différents groupes de travailleurs et de leurs statuts respectifs. Dans la seconde partie, sur la base de ces analyses, nous développerons une hypothèse : il existe peut-être un lien entre les changements de statut de deux catégories de travailleurs (hommes), désignés par les appellatifs si et gho, la montée en puissance de certains fonctionnaires royaux, et le fait que Jayavarman IV ait décidé de rester à Koh Ker après son accession au trône (vers 928 ap. J.-C.) et d'en faire sa capitale.