Cambodia's vast medieval cities hidden beneath the jungle

This from an 'exclusive' The Guardian article this morning:

Laser technology reveals cities concealed under the earth which would have made up the world’s largest empire in 12th century

Archaeologists in Cambodia have found multiple, previously undocumented medieval cities not far from the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat, the Guardian can reveal, in groundbreaking discoveries that promise to upend key assumptions about south-east Asia’s history. The Australian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans, whose findings will be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Monday, will announce that cutting-edge airborne laser scanning technology has revealed multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old beneath the tropical forest floor, some of which rival the size of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.

Evans said: “We have entire cities discovered beneath the forest that no one knew were there – at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay and, it turns out, we uncovered only a part of Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen [in the 2012 survey] … this time we got the whole deal and it’s big, the size of Phnom Penh big.”

Guardian article

Amazing all the discoveries made recently, with Petra and others.
We are but scratching the surface, I believe. And as technology progresses we'll be finding more stuff that was right beneath our noses, I bet!

Enjoy

Thanks for more great archeology findings. I enjoy these types of posts on ATS because usually so few people are hyper critical over the evidence, unless it confirms something from the Bible (God forbid!), ancient aliens, disagrees with current established timelines or (the grand daddy of all) the Atlantis myth. Can't forget pre-Columbian Americas, can't mention anything that messes with the conventional beliefs on that one without getting beat down. But your average archeology that doesn't push the normalcy bias of the experts too much is OK.

cant wait for the full documentary , thanks for sharing

originally posted by: athousandlives
Amazing all the discoveries made recently, with Petra and others.
We are but scratching the surface, I believe. And as technology progresses we'll be finding more stuff that was right beneath our noses, I bet!

I have been wondering the same question.

1. Did something happen to destroy all high civilizations around the same time?
   
2. Does the civilization in itself carry the seed for its destruction?
   
3. Is it just a matter of human nature?
   
   
   To create a civilization you need the ultra-genius at the first place. The founding father. But as time passes the core of the civilization shall be manned by common people, by regular guys. At this point what is left are only the backstage. And the stupid people who are trying to hold the backstage up to make a living out of it.

Interesting.

That survey uncovered an array of discoveries, including elaborate water systems that were built hundreds of years before historians believed the technology existed. The findings are expected to challenge theories on how the Khmer empire developed, dominated the region, and declined around the 15th century, and the role of climate change and water management in that process.

Yup blame Climate Change we have to throw that into everything nowadays. Just tentatively discovered and they died off due to climate change. REALLY!!!

originally posted by: mikell
Yup blame Climate Change we have to throw that into everything nowadays. Just tentatively discovered and they died off due to climate change. REALLY!!!

Wow. You've got it bad, yes? A study on the demise of a civilization with possibilities being examined, and you want them to put the blinders on? True investigations don't work that way, sorry. Studies like this shouldn't be based on modern day politics.

~~If it's big oil you are trying to protect, I think we can safely say they weren't around during that era.

a reply to: athousandlives

It's exciting for sure. Good find.

I find it rather interesting tho.
When I was in school for archaeology it was the first year that my school went from an arts degree to a science.
A lot of universities never recognized the field as an actual science, and only relatively recently in it's history has it been given the title and recognition it needs to progress.
Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

They discovered that someone had re-directed water flows....like we all did as kids....."elaborate water systems"....lol....this is a "technology" which can be dated?

a reply to: one4all

Google 'hydraulic civilization'.

a reply to: strongfp

Yes I believe so.
Also, for sure the easier access to certain technologies and information are pushing researchers to look again in places that were only previously superficially surveyed.

a reply to: Astyanax
Its raining where I live and looking out my window I can see 4 kids floating sticks down the water course along the streetcurb....I am watching the beginnings of a "hydraulic civilization" right now as every cycle of Humanity observes.

I am trying to understate the obvious.......why has this type of technology been excluded in large? Like Teslas technology was excluded.

Its not impressive to "find" a civilization using technology....they are underground on every continent ALL OVER THE PLACE and on the ocean floors ALL OVER THE PLACE....not one not a few but THOUSANDS of different sites from many many cycles of humanity.

a reply to: athousandlives

The largest empire on earth at the time and there's no account of what happened to the people..
strange..

Maybe they caught some Black death..

originally posted by: Tritocvafukei

originally posted by: athousandlives
Amazing all the discoveries made recently, with Petra and others.
We are but scratching the surface, I believe. And as technology progresses we'll be finding more stuff that was right beneath our noses, I bet!

I have been wondering the same question.

1. Did something happen to destroy all high civilizations around the same time?
   
2. Does the civilization in itself carry the seed for its destruction?
   
3. Is it just a matter of human nature?
   
   
   To create a civilization you need the ultra-genius at the first place. The founding father. But as time passes the core of the civilization shall be manned by common people, by regular guys. At this point what is left are only the backstage. And the stupid people who are trying to hold the backstage up to make a living out of it.

No, you're just looking at selected civilizations. When the Western world (Rome, Europe) was in decline, civilizations elsewhere were flourishing and doing just fine.

The ones that decline aren't catastrophically erased. The people remain and tear down and build over old structures (just like we do.... knock down old buildings and put up baseball fields or amusement parks or housing development.) The whole country doesn't develop collective amnesia.

In addition, technology spreads. If one civilization sees something beautiful or useful from another one, they will learn to replicate it. But if they don't have the resources or the application (wheels in the desert are pretty useless until modern technology) they won't use it or advance it.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

The scale of the Angkor Wat site will leave you in awe as it currently stands and the only way to appreciate the majesty, complexity and shear scale is seeing it in person. Add these new archeological finds to the mix and you are looking at an even more advanced empire than was previously thought to exist. I live in Siem Reap (about 7km from Angkor Wat) and, among the more knowledgeable locals, you occasionally hear of interesting ruins etc. being found in the jungle. You can access some of these 'new' sites by moto and I have a few excursions planned for later in the year. We are just into the wet season here where things get green and lush as opposed to the months of brown and dry we have had. Them Khmer ruins always look best in the wet season!

a reply to: LarryLove

Keep us in the loop, love things like that... hope to one day make the trip myself.

originally posted by: one4all
a reply to: ladyinwaiting

They discovered that someone had re-directed water flows....like we all did as kids....."elaborate water systems"....lol....this is a "technology" which can be dated?

It's very simple. They start by looking for mountain and plateau streams or rivers. They dig out the bed of the stream and line it with large stones. Then they build a dam at one point, that creates a pond with an overflow. Then they add sluice gates to the dam and to runoff channels to irrigate fields. This goes all the way downstream. But all of this needs coordination.
If the farmer at the far end needs water that request has to go all the way upstream. A flood would destroy crops as would a tsunami or drought. If just one link is broken the whole system could collapse.

originally posted by: mikell
Yup blame Climate Change we have to throw that into everything nowadays. Just tentatively discovered and they died off due to climate change. REALLY!!!

But it's a fact of life on our planet and it did in fact impact our civilizations in the past, it is responsible for the rise and fall of many a civilization and spread of populations around the globe , we can go back to the younger Dryas as an example, in fact our current modern civilization is now being impacted, the mass migrations from Syria into Europe was kicked started by drought,some Islands in the Pacific may disappear like legendary Atlantis and the coastal areas of places like Florida.