Angkor hydraulic landscape reassessments

Record summary

Archaeological and remote-sensing research in the 1990s and 2000s reassessed Angkor’s reservoirs, canals, embankments and settlement landscape. The work matters for comparing hydraulic engineering, urban expansion and the relationship between water control and Khmer political power. It also helped move discussion beyond the idea of a single irrigation system toward a changing, multi-purpose landscape. Uncertainty remains over how particular reservoirs functioned, how much water was used for agriculture versus ritual or urban purposes, and whether hydraulic stress alone explains Angkor’s later transformation.