Chinatopix
Sep 23, 2014
(Photo : Phnom Kulen PROGRAM
) The ancient royal city of Mahendraparvata was little more than a legend until modern technology spotted it.
) The ancient royal city of Mahendraparvata was little more than a legend until modern technology spotted it.
Archeologists working in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia announced the discoveryof a city once thought to be legend.
The nation is most famous for Angkor, theillustrious capital of Khmer Empire, that rose near the Tonle Sap Lake around 1150 AD. But a rare few inscriptions tell of another, older citycalled Mahendraparvata that may be the true birthplace of Khmer culture. But nobody knew where it was.
Until now.
Archeologists flew over a plateau northeast of Angkor called the Kulen Hills using lidar, a technology that strips away otherwise impenetrable vegetation. The region is mentioned asthe site of Mahendraparvata, but is so vast and so over grown by near-impenetrable rain forests that work on the ground would have taken years.
Before the SURVEY team's eyes, a neat grid of streets and boulevards appeared out of the jungle, dotted with temples, man-made ponds, and evidence of hydraulic architecture that is the hallmark of Angkor's dazzling water-controlling civilization.
team's eyes, a neat grid of streets and boulevards appeared out of the jungle, dotted with temples, man-made ponds, and evidence of hydraulic architecture that is the hallmark of Angkor's dazzling water-controlling civilization.
Even more impressive, the street grid defied geography; roads and ceremonial pathways cut straight through hills and dales across the plateau.
"You have this kind of sudden eureka moment where you bring the data up on screen the first time and there it is - this ancient city very clearly in front of you," said Dr. Damian Evans of theUniversity of Sydney in Australia, who led the lidar SURVEY.
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Mahendraparvata is thought to have been founded in the 9th Century by King Jayavarman II, 300 years before Angkor is estimated to have risen.
At its height in the late 1100s, Angkor, whose temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are among the planet's most iconic of antiquities, stretched over 1,000 square miles. Angkor controlled an empire spanning all of modern Cambodia, as well as parts of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
Since its invention, lidar went from a scoffed-at technology to one of the most sought-after tools in modern archeology. Shooting a series of lasers bursts every four seconds, lidar "sees" through vegetation to detect minute changes on the forest floor, making it invaluable for contour maps as much as archaeology.
In addition to re-discovering Mahendraparvata, lidar proved instrumental in pinpointing lost Mayan cities in Central America and colonial sites in Canada.
Dr. Evans and his team also scanned the regions immediately around Angkor itself, discovering a spectacularly intricate man-made LANDSCAPE of canals and holding ponds that to the naked eye today appears as empty fields.
of canals and holding ponds that to the naked eye today appears as empty fields.
By harnessing the water provided by the monsoon, the Khmer were able to feed a huge population that turned Angkor into the largest city in the medieval world.
It is thought that Mahendraparvata and Angkor fell and faded away from history at the same time, in the 15 Century, when a global cooling period called the Little Ice Age triggered catastrophic droughts across the Southeast Asia.
The Little Ice Age collapsed the cities' waterworks and triggered famine. Khmer kings then moved their seat to the PRESENT Cambodian capital of Phnom Phenh.
Cambodian capital of Phnom Phenh.
8 comments:
Interesting mini ice age caused the collapse of khmer empire , heh! well get ready ,it is predicted by many non- mainstream scientists that another mini ice age is on its way... cooling down by all the volcanoes activities around the world and the magnetic poles shift moving away from their old places ... although they/gov are pushing the idea of climate change caused by mankind just as a cover-up ... ice in antartica is increasing on the west side ,its east side is more exposed to sunlight thus melting; ice in the artic is melting because the magnetic north pole is shifting away toward siberia and south pole is shifting from land toward the ocean area, so the old north magnetic pole is getting more exposed to sunlight-- thus melting away as well...also according to record from NOAA we are having more cooler summer temperatures than previous years but the media owned by the elites is still promoting global warming. the elites who own all the corporations/businesses don't want to scare their servants ( that is us ) away from their jobs.. because without us who will continue to make them more money/wealth... there is a report that they are buying gold bullions to store as wealth in case the mini ice age comes and most people will die from starvation...
Nah, it probably was not mini ice age that caused the collapsed of Khmer Empire, it probably was the God of heaven who see to it that Khmer would not get to prideful in their achievement. Hardly an ice-age in tropical zone.
Take for example
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the first World Empire. After God dealt with him came the Babylonian Empire. After this came the Assyrian Empire...so on and so on, God dealt with each one of them accordingly. Maybe God is a party spoiler, he likes to throw cold water on thriving empires. Most empires last only 600 years. 6- being the number of man.
MagogMademn
Khmer subjects can all eat half the rations and still survived. Khmer empire can cut temple buildings and put everyone into planting food, gathering food and still survive.
If there was any drought, there will be evidence of migration, new colonies establishment.
The reason for Khmer empire to collapse was the fault in putting all eggs into one basket. The Thai slaves revolt and in one swoop destroyed all eggs in the basket. Khmer empire never recovered from the first sacking by the Thais.
Know this, the Chams sacked Khmer capital first, carried off a lot of booties. But the Chams were not thinking about totally destroying the Khmers. But the Chams showed the Thais slaves the possibility: Just wait for the Khmer overlords away with their army, rise up and sacked the Khmer capitals.
Well, the Thais did come back and sacked the Khmer capitals again and again, such that Khmer folks abandoned the capital and moved East for Vietnamese's protection.
-Drgunzet-
Oh my God,
Khmerization is ah YOUNgoneNuts!
Let's boycott ah YUONgoneNuts-Khmerization!!!
From now on, stop coming here, Khmer people! Stop coming here. Let's shut down ah YUONGoneNuts-Khmerization. Ah YUONgoneNuts-Khmerization, go home to Hanoi now!!!
-Drgunzet-,
What is your purpose to post your bullshitting comments to insult my country and my people?
Too bad that your Vietnamese folks and yourself have never built the Empire temples like Khmer/Cambodian people in the past?
Now, you are very jealous and intimidated with your powerful cultures and enriched Khmer traditions of Khmer/Cambodian people.
Now you are feeling bad that you and your Vietnamese folks do not have anything to impress the world, but your hypocrite and fake story or history have been lying everywhere on the planet because your Vietnamese or Yuon leaders and folks created Vietnam or Yuon nation that included the stolen lands (China "North", Champa "Central" and Khmer/Cambodia "South"). Yes, your Vietnamese folks and nation have a very bad reputation as we heard and talk about it during dinner, group discussion, classrooms in Universities or Colleges in America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. You don't know that millions (lets say billions) of people worldwide will not appreciate your Vietnam nation and what your Yuon or Vietnamese leaders (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) and folks have done to hurt neighbors like China, Cambodian/Khmer, Cham (disappeared from planet because of Yuon or Vietnamese folks or thieves) and also Laos or Laotians and minorities or hill tribes in Vietnam.
You have kept going on and on with your bullshits and hypocrisy without going anywhere near that the world of people will not appreciate you. Right now, people around the world have been trying to make their end meet and survive.
Khmer Yuerng.
CORRECTION FOR 24 September 2014 5:04 pm (Khmer Yeurng):
-Drgunzet-,
What is your purpose to post your bullshitting comments to insult my country and my people?
Too bad that your Vietnamese folks and yourself have never built the Empire temples like Khmer/Cambodian people in the past.
Now, you are very jealous and intimidated with THE powerful KHMER cultures and enriched Khmer traditions of Khmer/Cambodian people. KHMER/CAMBODIAN PEOPLE ARE LUCKY THAT THE PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD RECOGNIZE OUR KHMER/CAMBODIAN EMPIRE AND HISTORY.
YOUR VIETNAMESE HISTORY IS VERY STINK AND UGLY AROUND THE WORLD. DO YOU KNOW THAT?
Now you are feeling bad that you and your Vietnamese folks do not have anything to impress the world, but your hypocrite and fake story or history have been lying everywhere on the planet because your Vietnamese or Yuon leaders and folks created Vietnam or Yuon nation that included the stolen lands (China "North", Champa "Central" and Khmer/Cambodia "South"). Yes, your Vietnamese folks and nation have a very bad reputation as we heard and talk about it during dinner, group discussion, classrooms in Universities or Colleges in America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. You don't know that millions (lets say billions) of people worldwide will not appreciate your Vietnam nation and what your Yuon or Vietnamese leaders (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) and folks have done to hurt neighbors like China, Cambodian/Khmer, Cham (disappeared from planet because of Yuon or Vietnamese folks or thieves) and also Laos or Laotians and minorities or hill tribes in Vietnam.
You have kept going on and on with your bullshits and hypocrisy without going anywhere near that the world of people will not appreciate you. Right now, people around the world have been trying to make their end meet and survive.
Khmer Yuerng.
Would you rather have a large powerful Khmer empire (country) in today world or being in a small land w/beautiful temples complex of Angkor as we are here today? While I am so proud of our heritage & the world class wonder of Angkor, I do believe we would all rather choose the first option. I do believe weather as a decisive factor while our Kings continued to push building the city w/inadequate water supply system, along with slavery, converting to Buddhism as a state religion in a way of sending boys to temple at the young ages, slavery, not developing any major ports on the coast in the time of naval power/trade during the 15-16th centuries, time of when shipping was prospered.
Ultimately, anytime one is sitting on top for too long, going on the defensive while pushing for divided in classes (slavery, internal power struggle within the nobles), one will end up as our Khmer empire. It's hard to maintain power to be on top for the long time.
We have no one but ourselves to be blame. The Thai & Cham did sack our city w/Thai taking away our most talented back to Thai to make it their owns.
I would choose a strong nation over the famous Angkor anytime. Building the vast temples complex took time, money, human resource, divided people, slavery discontent, delusional power while your enemies building armies..
I'm proud of Angkor but there's nothing to tell other Yuon that their country doesn't have the same since it's part of the reason you become slave to them!
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