Abstract
Reconstruction of the paleoclimate based on analyses of annually laminated sediments in Japan and moat sediments from Angkor Thom in Cambodia indicates that there had been a period of drastic cooling during AD 1430–1500 accompanied by a weakening of monsoon activity. The annual mean temperatures show that—compared to the peak of medieval warm epoch around AD 1150—the mean temperature dropped by nearly 5°C in AD 1430. The climatic cooling brought about the weakening of the summer monsoon, which in turn would have resulted in the delayed arrival of the wet season. This might have had a catastrophic impact on rice cultivation in Cambodia leading to the decline of the Khmer Civilization.
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Yasuda, Y. et al. (2013). Climate Deterioration and Angkor’s Demise. In: Yasuda, Y. (eds) Water Civilization. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54111-0_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54111-0_10
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