Lost medieval city found in Cambodia: report

SYDNEY, June 15, 2013 (AFP) - A lost medieval city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1,200 years ago has been discovered by archaeologists using revolutionary airborne laser technology, a report said Saturday.

In what it called a world exclusive, the Sydney Morning Herald said the city, Mahendraparvata, included temples hidden by jungle for centuries, many of which have not been looted.

A journalist and photographer from the newspaper accompanied the "Indiana Jones-style" expedition, led by a French-born archaeologist, through landmine-strewn jungle in the Siem Reap region where Angkor Wat, the largest Hindi temple complex in the world, is located.

The expedition used an instrument called Lidar which was strapped to a helicopter that criss-crossed a mountain north of Angkor Wat, providing data that matched years of ground research by archaeologists.

It effectively peeled away the jungle canopy using billions of laser pulses, allowing archaeologists to see structures that were in perfect squares, completing a map of the city which years of painstaking ground research had been unable to achieve, the report said.

It helped reveal the city that reportedly founded the Angkor Empire in 802 AD, uncovering more than two dozen previously unrecorded temples and evidence of ancient canals, dykes and roads using satellite navigation coordinates gathered from the instrument's data.

Jean-Baptiste Chevance, director of the Archaeology and Development Foundation in London who led the expedition, told the newspaper it was known from ancient scriptures that a great warrior, Jayavarman II, had a mountain capital, "but we didn't know how all the dots fitted, exactly how it all came together".

"We now know from the new data the city was for sure connected by roads, canals and dykes," he said.

The discovery is set to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

Damian Evans, director of the University of Sydney's archaeological research centre in Cambodia, which played a key part in developing the Lidar technology, said there might be important implications for today's society.

"We see from the imagery that the landscape was completely devoid of vegetation," Evans, a co-expedition leader, said.

"One theory we are looking at is that the severe environmental impact of deforestation and the dependence on water management led to the demise of the civilisation ... perhaps it became too successful to the point of becoming unmanageable."

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-06-15

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

The jungle is still full of landmines. Let's see how many die trying to loot the temples.

I would say neither of the above. But I for one would love to visit.. simply because I have a greater interest in such places than simply taking a few nice photos for mum and dad at home.

Archaeologists Discover Lost City In Cambodian Jungle

by Scott Neuman,

June 14, 2013 5:37 PM

Australian archaeologists using remote-sensing technology have uncovered an ancient city in Cambodia that has remained hidden for more than a millennium under dense jungle undergrowth.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/14/191727408/archaeologists-discover-lost-city-in-cambodian-jungle

It's ours, it's ours!

tourism up maybe ??

When ever I read of 'lost' civilisations a reference is usually made to "severe environmental impact" as a cause of their collapse. I wish we would pay more attention to such references as regards our own civilisation.

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

You obviously know little of local history. When the Khmer perished in the plagues of the 14th-16th centuries, Siam sent engineers, priests and archetects to help build Cambodia out of the pyres. A new capital was built at U-Thong (named for the first king of Ayuttaya) and Siamese garrisons were established at the border towns of Siam Reap & Siam Pang. Cambodia spread from there to the coast and along the coast to Annam.

The French conquered both Annam & Tonkin and pushed the Cambodian population out of Cochin China - creating the French country of Vietnam.

The French embroidered the histories of all their conquered peoples - to give them pride in the past, but truth be known, Siam (Thailand) Laos, and Vietnam owe much to the Khmer, but may also hate them, as many people were captured, brought to the area and forced to work as slaves to their Indian (Khmer) overlords.

Today, Thais use Sanskrit words and customs that were imposed upon them centuries ago.

So, yes, Angkor was inside Siam for over 5 centuries and has officialy been part of Cambodia less than 60 years - who has a better right to the land than those who cared for it..??

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

You obviously know little of local history. When the Khmer perished in the plagues of the 14th-16th centuries, Siam sent engineers, priests and archetects to help build Cambodia out of the pyres. A new capital was built at U-Thong (named for the first king of Ayuttaya) and Siamese garrisons were established at the border towns of Siam Reap & Siam Pang. Cambodia spread from there to the coast and along the coast to Annam.

The French conquered both Annam & Tonkin and pushed the Cambodian population out of Cochin China - creating the French country of Vietnam.

The French embroidered the histories of all their conquered peoples - to give them pride in the past, but truth be known, Siam (Thailand) Laos, and Vietnam owe much to the Khmer, but may also hate them, as many people were captured, brought to the area and forced to work as slaves to their Indian (Khmer) overlords.

Today, Thais use Sanskrit words and customs that were imposed upon them centuries ago.

So, yes, Angkor was inside Siam for over 5 centuries and has officialy been part of Cambodia less than 60 years - who has a better right to the land than those who cared for it..??

"Indian (Khmer) overlords". In my researching the creation of the temples of Anghor Wat the evidence clearly shows the travel patterns of the people of India to this region of the world.

I have never seen them referenced as overlords. This is quite interesting to me. Can you go into a little more detail on this subject.

Archaeologists Discover Lost City In Cambodian Jungle

by Scott Neuman,

June 14, 2013 5:37 PM

Australian archaeologists using remote-sensing technology have uncovered an ancient city in Cambodia that has remained hidden for more than a millennium under dense jungle undergrowth.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/14/191727408/archaeologists-discover-lost-city-in-cambodian-jungle

Nice 10min video on the link above.

Bankei

Looks like this one was built about 400 years before Angkor. My guess is it's Khmer just like Angkor.

"temples hidden by jungle for centuries, many of which have not been looted"

but now that you mention it..........

Send in Indie-Harry Ford so we can all share in the adventure

India was never a country nor a religion but a region comprised of hundreds of different size states... it was Brits who gave them this collective name in 18th century just for their own ease... so let it be where it is, we don't need another Palestine... again. One already piling up in Myanmar

When ever I read of 'lost' civilisations a reference is usually made to "severe environmental impact" as a cause of their collapse. I wish we would pay more attention to such references as regards our own civilisation.

Yes shouldn't these be used as case studies for the global development model????

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

You obviously know little of local history. When the Khmer perished in the plagues of the 14th-16th centuries, Siam sent engineers, priests and archetects to help build Cambodia out of the pyres. A new capital was built at U-Thong (named for the first king of Ayuttaya) and Siamese garrisons were established at the border towns of Siam Reap & Siam Pang. Cambodia spread from there to the coast and along the coast to Annam.

The French conquered both Annam & Tonkin and pushed the Cambodian population out of Cochin China - creating the French country of Vietnam.

The French embroidered the histories of all their conquered peoples - to give them pride in the past, but truth be known, Siam (Thailand) Laos, and Vietnam owe much to the Khmer, but may also hate them, as many people were captured, brought to the area and forced to work as slaves to their Indian (Khmer) overlords.

Today, Thais use Sanskrit words and customs that were imposed upon them centuries ago.

So, yes, Angkor was inside Siam for over 5 centuries and has officialy been part of Cambodia less than 60 years - who has a better right to the land than those who cared for it..??

thailand DEFINATLY has no right to it,they cant even look after what they have now,,,,,,,its cambodian end of,,,,and a fantastic discovery,,,,

"We now know from the new data the city was for sure connected by roads, canals and dykes," he said.

That's settled then, not even remotely connected to Siam.

I'm happy for Cambodia, a country I feel quite close too.

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

You obviously know little of local history. When the Khmer perished in the plagues of the 14th-16th centuries, Siam sent engineers, priests and archetects to help build Cambodia out of the pyres. A new capital was built at U-Thong (named for the first king of Ayuttaya) and Siamese garrisons were established at the border towns of Siam Reap & Siam Pang. Cambodia spread from there to the coast and along the coast to Annam.

The French conquered both Annam & Tonkin and pushed the Cambodian population out of Cochin China - creating the French country of Vietnam.

The French embroidered the histories of all their conquered peoples - to give them pride in the past, but truth be known, Siam (Thailand) Laos, and Vietnam owe much to the Khmer, but may also hate them, as many people were captured, brought to the area and forced to work as slaves to their Indian (Khmer) overlords.

Today, Thais use Sanskrit words and customs that were imposed upon them centuries ago.

So, yes, Angkor was inside Siam for over 5 centuries and has officialy been part of Cambodia less than 60 years - who has a better right to the land than those who cared for it..??

If you knew just a little of local history you would know that the area your refer to which is now Malaysia, Thailand (Siam), Cambodia, and Vietnam was one Kingdom, The Kingdom of Funan from the 1st Century to 550A.D. The people were mainly ethnic Mon & Khymer, not Thai. The Thais only arrived from China much later and it was the Khymer people that gave the Thai people part of their country to form the Kingdom of Siam.

Thank Budda for the "Indiana Jones style" expedition, now everyone can go and help themselves

You can read the full history of this regio in the book " HISTORY OF THAILAND AND CAMBODIA" by M. L. Manich Jumsai!!

Never been to Cambodia except for a couple of 1 day excursions back in the late 60's. I would like to go visit someday and hopefully no one would be shooting at me this time.

Never been to Cambodia except for a couple of 1 day excursions back in the late 60's. I would like to go visit someday and hopefully no one would be shooting at me this time.

?

I did not know Indiana Jones used airborne lasers!

When ever I read of 'lost' civilisations a reference is usually made to "severe environmental impact" as a cause of their collapse. I wish we would pay more attention to such references as regards our own civilisation.

Take a look at this on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJhgGbRA6Hk

whoops a new temple discovered in Cambodia... will it be claimed by their neighbours because of a map mistake in the past? more than likely it will give a much needed boost to the Cambodian economy in tourism and help their elite become even richer, poor rural people improve their economic circumstances

You obviously know little of local history. When the Khmer perished in the plagues of the 14th-16th centuries, Siam sent engineers, priests and archetects to help build Cambodia out of the pyres. A new capital was built at U-Thong (named for the first king of Ayuttaya) and Siamese garrisons were established at the border towns of Siam Reap & Siam Pang. Cambodia spread from there to the coast and along the coast to Annam.

The French conquered both Annam & Tonkin and pushed the Cambodian population out of Cochin China - creating the French country of Vietnam.

The French embroidered the histories of all their conquered peoples - to give them pride in the past, but truth be known, Siam (Thailand) Laos, and Vietnam owe much to the Khmer, but may also hate them, as many people were captured, brought to the area and forced to work as slaves to their Indian (Khmer) overlords.

Today, Thais use Sanskrit words and customs that were imposed upon them centuries ago.

So, yes, Angkor was inside Siam for over 5 centuries and has officialy been part of Cambodia less than 60 years - who has a better right to the land than those who cared for it..??

But most of Thai culture has been stolen directly from the Khmers and they were ruling South-East Asia before Thailand even existed.Thailand as we know it today WAS the Khmer empire,along with parts of Vietnam and Laos!

You can see the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 13th centuries marked in red here :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Empire

The same map enlarged here :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map-of-southeast-asia_900_CE.png

No sign of Thailand there!

Looks like this one was built about 400 years before Angkor. My guess is it's Khmer just like Angkor.

One thing's for sure..You won't get to see it if you don't have a Cambodian visa.

Round and round in bl**** circles.

The jungle is still full of landmines. Let's see how many die trying to loot the temples.

I would imagine that if they needed satellite imagery to locate them you are going to find them with a shovel.

When ever I read of 'lost' civilisations a reference is usually made to "severe environmental impact" as a cause of their collapse. I wish we would pay more attention to such references as regards our own civilisation.

Take a look at this on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJhgGbRA6Hk

Great link thank you.

edit

Reminded me that they think that was part of the downfall of the Mayan Civilization. Probably other big ones also..