A ground-breaking archaeological discovery in Cambodia has revealed a colossal 700-year old urban landscape connecting ancient cities and temples to Angkor Wat. Lara Dunston joins the excavation team for the first site visit by a British newspaper
It's 7am at Angkor Wat
and there's not a tourist in sight. It's blissfully quiet, the first
clear June morning after two days of torrential rains. The only souls
around are a small group of Buddhist pilgrims, lighting incense at the
rear of the spectacular Khmer temple. The bleary-eyed early-risers, who
woke in darkness to board tour buses to Angkor archaeological park for
sunrise photo ops, have already trundled back to their breakfast
buffets.
I'm not here for sightseeing, however, I'm heading
further into the forest surrounding the stupendous temple complex with
Australian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans to meet the archaeologists from Cambodia, the Philippines and the USA, who are working on new excavations.
The release this month by the US National Academy of Sciences
of a report on the results of a high-tech survey of Khmer Empire sites,
undertaken in April 2012, has rocked the archaeological world and
captured travellers' imaginations.
A monumental, sophisticated,
densely populated urban landscape, which dates back more than 700 years,
has been identified. It includes and connects Angkor cities such as
Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon, with the rarely visited medieval city
ruins of Phnom Kulen, Beng Mealea and Koh Ker, over 100km away.
Evans was one of the report authors and the lead archaeologist and
director of the project, which only became known outside local and
archaeological circles with the release of the report this month. Read the full article at the UK Guardian.
1 comment:
Photos are copyright, you do not have permission to use these images. Giving credit is not enough — these are not free to reproduce.
Post a Comment