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A new study of the demise of the ancient city of Angkor is a
wake-up call for Cambodia to be more vigilant in its efforts to
conserve the site, an official said Wednesday.
The study in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, found that Angkor was far larger
than previously thought, incorporating an elaborate water
management network of nearly 400 square miles and rice paddies to
feed more than 1 million people.
Researchers discovered, however, that the complex was too vast
to manage and could have contributed to the civilization's
decline. The extending rice fields resulted in serious ecological
problems, including deforestation, topsoil degradation and
erosion.
Soeung Kong, deputy director-general of the government agency
managing the site, said that what happened to ancient Angkor
"appears to be repeating itself now" due to over-exploitation from
tourism, highlighting the current challenges in managing and
conserving the temples.
"The findings are eye-opening for us. They awake us to a greater
need for safeguarding (the ancient city)," he said.
The study, led by Damian Evans of Australia's University of
Sydney, revealed that Angkor was "the world's most extensive
preindustrial low-density complex" during its zenith between the
9th and 14th centuries _ far larger than previously thought.
Using airborne imaging radar data acquired in 2000 by NASA, the
researchers produced a "comprehensive and up-do-date" digital map
of the area, which has been long obscured by jungle. They detailed
tens of thousands of individual features of the site across nearly
1,200 square miles, Evans said in a statement on his university Web
site.
"It shows conclusively that Angkor was a vast and populous
network of agricultural and settlement space covering much of the
Siem Reap area, and stretching far beyond the well-known temples of
the central archaeological park," he said.
But the complex's size led to ecological problems that could
have doomed the civilization, the researchers found. That
conclusion supports a theory in the early 1950s by Bernard-Philippe
Groslier, a prominent French archaeologist, that the collapse of
Angkor stemmed from over-exploitation of the environment.
Soeung Kong said similar problems exist today.
Impoverished Cambodia has relied heavily on the Angkor temples
to earn much-needed tourism revenue. But in recent years,
conservationists have expressed concerns about stress to the
monuments, including the famed Angkor Wat, from the ever-increasing
number of visitors.
They also fear that the unrestricted pumping of underground
water to meet the rapidly rising demand of hotels, guesthouses and
residents in the provincial town may be undermining Angkor's
foundations, destabilizing the earth beneath the temples so much
that they might sink and collapse.
Evans said the mapping of the area found delicate traces of
great archaeological significance, such as ponds, occupation
mounds, field patterns and signs of local shrines, still remaining
on the ground surface today. But he warned that they "are under
serious threat from uncontrolled development in the Siem Reap
area."
He said his group has recently given the digital mapping
database to Cambodia's government to use in taking appropriate and
effective measures to safeguard the archaeological landscape.
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