NASA Satellites Help to Study Angkor
NASA’s airborne imaging radar (AIRSAR), capable of imaging ground structures through layers of clouds, has made it possible to confirm a controversial hypothesis suggested by French archaeologist Bernard-Philippe Groslier fifty years ago as to the fate of the early Cambodian culture. Groslier believed that the huge complex of Angkor and the civilization which created it were ultimately doomed by a complex system of water management developed to support a growing population. The water system caused so many problems it finally became too difficult to maintain. Later archaeologists disagreed with Groslier’s hypothesis because he was unable to furnish actual physical evidence from outside the temple area to confirm the theory.
The site of ancient Angkor has been designated a World Heritage site where the art and architecture created by the advanced culture are preserved. The Angkor area was occupied from the 800s until the early fifteenth century when the site was mostly abandoned.
Groslier was convinced that a water system comprised of roads, canals, and irrigation ponds, created between the seventh and fifteenth centuries became so large and complex that it was impossible to manage. Environmental damage was the result of large-scale clearing of land for rice fields able to support up to a million people, causing deforestation along with loss and degradation of topsoil.
An international research team, using aerial photography and NASA’s ground-sensing radar, examined an area of 3000 square kilometers, after which they compared the images to existing maps, topographic data and information from ground-based archaeology. They discovered more than 1000 artificial ponds and at least 74 additional temples in an area covering 1000 square kilometers. One single water system connected the entire complex and provided a reliable water supply during uncertain monsoon seasons. Although many experts had believed the system was used for decorative purposes or ceremonial rituals, it was possibly designed to increase rice production through irrigation.
What the researchers found seems to confirm the theory of Groslier. Damien Evans, deputy director of the Greater Angkor Project, based at the University of Sydney, said there “are also signs that the large-scale city engineered its own downfall by disrupting its local environment by expanding continuously into the surrounding forests and exposing the water management system to increased sedimentation and erratic water flows.” This overexpansion resulted in an extreme transformation of the land with increased dependence on a huge, delicately balanced infrastructure which proved finally to be too vulnerable to survive.
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
