SYDNEY, Dec. 9 (UPI) — Archaeologists with the University of Sydney in Australia have been using a combination of airborne technologies and old-fashioned digging tools to get a better sense of Angkor Wat’s historical footprint.
Their findings suggest the Hindu-turned-Buddhist temple, found in present-day Cambodia, was much larger and more complex than previously thought.
As part of the Greater Angkor Project, scientists used airborne laser scanning technology known as LiDAR and ground-penetrating radar to map previously undiscovered components of the temple complex. Airborne observations were followed by targeted excavation work.
Researchers realized the complex, at its height, featured many more components and was bounded to the south by a unique and sizable structure.
“This structure, which has dimensions of more than 1,500 meters by 600 meters, is the most striking discovery associated with Angkor Wat to date,” researcher Roland Fletcher, an archaeology professor at the University of Sydney, explained in a press release. “Its function remains unknown and, as yet, it has no known equivalent in the Angkorian world.”
Researchers also located a series of towers built and destroyed during the initial construction phase of the main temple. Scientists say the towers may have served as a temporary shrine complex.
Archaeologists and historians have long assumed that Angkor Wat consisted of only religious structures. But the latest observations reveal the presence of residential structures — roads, ponds and mounds — that may have served people who worked at the temple.
“This challenges our traditional understanding of the social hierarchy of the Angkor Wat community and shows that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been exclusively the preserve of the wealthy or the priestly elite,” said Fletcher.
The new survey, detailed in the journal Antiquity, also uncovered the presence of wooden defensive structures built late in the life of Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century by the Khmer Empire. But by 1585 or so, the temple became the last line of defense for the empire as the neighboring Ayutthaya city-state encroached on its territory.
“Angkor Wat is the first and only known example of an Angkorian temple being systematically modified for use in a defensive capacity,” Fletcher said.
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