Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pre- and Proto-Historic Anthropogenic Landscape Modifications in Siem Reap Province (Cambodia) as Seen Through Satellite Imagery

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Digital Methods and Remote Sensing in Archaeology

  • 2141 Accesses

Abstract

Since the end of the civil war twenty years ago archaeologists in Cambodia have made a substantial progress in the research on the medieval landscape of the urban complex of Angkor. With modern technologies of archaeological prospection, Air-Sar and LiDAR, the researchers attempted to reconstruct the cultural landscape of the biggest low density urban complex of the preindustrial world. However, on the regional level the sites are still identified based on the colonial-era archaeological reconnaissance. Such a state of affairs is unfavourable for two reasons: it hampers the understanding of settlement patterns in prehistory and history and impedes local heritage protection efforts taken against looting. Therefore a large-scale reconnaissance effort based on satellite imaginary was required to fill the gap in our understanding of the past landscapes in the region. As North-Western Cambodia is mainly an alluvial plain it is only natural for an occupied settlement to leave a recognizable mound of accumulated material. Other recognizable topographic signatures of occupation include one or more moats excavated by the site’s occupants to enclose the settlement. While many of the settlements of interest are dated back to the Neolithic period, a remarkable number of them are still inhabited today. These long occupied areas leave features on the landscape that are easily recognizable in satellite images, as well as from the ground level. Furthermore, the structure of past occupation can be deduced from the pattern of rice paddies, especially when it is radial, as contrasted with the modern pattern dominated by right angles. These features related to land use are equally visible in the satellite images. With this paper the authors aim to provide a systematic review of research routines applied to identification of anthropogenic landscape modifications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baker, A. R., & Butlin, R. A. (Eds.). (1973). Studies of field systems in the British Isles. CUP Archive.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood, P. S., & Glover, I. (2004). Southeast Asia. Foundations for an archaeological history. Southeast Asia: from prehistory to history, 4-20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, P., Sanderson, D. C., & Stark, M. T. (2004). OSL and radiocarbon dating of a pre-Angkorian canal in the Mekong delta, southern Cambodia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 31(3), 319-336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, W. E., McGrath, R., & Higham, C. F. (1999). The geoarchaeology of the prehistoric ditched sites of the upper Mae Nam Mun Valley, Northeast Thailand, II: stratigraphy and morphological sections of the encircling earthworks. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 18, 169-180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, B. M., Anchukaitis, K. J., Penny, D., Fletcher, R., Cook, E. R., Sano, M., … & Hong, T. M. (2010). Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(15), 6748-6752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, B. M., Fletcher, R., Wang, S. Y. S., Zottoli, B., & Pottier, C. (2014). Monsoon extremes and society over the past millennium on mainland Southeast Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 95, 1-19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, D. P. (1991). The land and people of Cambodia. Harper-Collins Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coe, M. D. (2003). Angkor and the Khmer civilization. Thames & Hudson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coedes, G. (1968). The Indianized States of South-East Asia. University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J., & Bellwood, P. (2003). Farmers and their languages: the first expansions. Science, 300(5619), 597-603.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delle, J. A. (2002). Power and landscape: spatial dynamics in early nineteenth century Jamaica. The dynamics of power. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 341 - 361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, D. H., Fletcher, R. J., Pottier, C., Chevance, J. B., Soutif, D., Tan, B. S., … & Boornazian, G. (2013). Uncovering archaeological landscapes at Angkor using lidar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(31), 12595-12600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, D., Pottier, C., Fletcher, R., Hensley, S., Tapley, I., Milne, A., & Barbetti, M. (2007). A comprehensive archaeological map of the world’s largest preindustrial settlement complex at Angkor, Cambodia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(36), 14277-14282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferlus, M. (2010). THE AUSTROASIATIC VOCABULARY FOR RICE: ITS ORIGIN AND EXPANSION 47. JSEALS, 3, 61-76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, R., Penny, D., Evans, D., Christophe, P., Barbetti, M., Kummu, M., & Lustig, T. (2008). The water management network of Angkor, Cambodia. Antiquity, 82(317), 658-670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, J., & Ledgerwood, J. (1999). Dry-season flood-recession rice in the Mekong Delta: two thousand years of sustainable agriculture? Asian Perspectives 38 (1), 37-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, D. Q., Sato, Y. I., Castillo, C., Qin, L., Weisskopf, A. R., Kingwell-Banham, E. J., … & Van Etten, J. (2010). Consilience of genetics and archaeobotany in the entangled history of rice. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2(2), 115-131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrison, T. G., Houston, S. D., Golden, C., Inomata, T., Nelson, Z., & Munson, J. (2008). Evaluating the use of IKONOS satellite imagery in lowland Maya settlement archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35(10), 2770-2777.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawken, S. (2011) Metropolis of Ricefields. A Topographic Classification of a Dispersed Urban Complex. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. The University of Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendrickson, M. (2010). Historic routes to Angkor: development of the Khmer road system (ninth to thirteenth centuries AD) in mainland Southeast Asia. Antiquity, 84(324), 480-496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C. (2002). Early cultures of mainland Southeast Asia. Chicago: Art Media Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C. (2011). The bronze age of Southeast Asia: New insight on social change from Ban Non Wat. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 21(03), 365-389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C. (2014a) Early Southeast Asia: From the First Humans to the Civilization of Angkor. River Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C. (2014b). From the Iron Age to Angkor: new light on the origins of a state. Antiquity, 88(341), 822-835.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C., & Rispoli, F. (2014). The Mun Valley and Central Thailand in prehistory: integrating two cultural sequences. Open Archaeology 2014; vol. 1, 2-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higham, C., Higham, T., Ciarla, R., Douka, K., Kijngam, A., & Rispoli, F. (2011). The Origins of the Bronze age of southeast Asia. Journal of world prehistory, 24(4), 227-274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodder, I. (1985). Postprocessual archaeology. Advances in archaeological method and theory, 8, 1-26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, J. M. (2003). Field systems in Essex. Essex Society for Archaeology and History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, T. (1993). The temporality of the landscape. World archaeology, 25(2), 152-174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelonek, A. (2008). Historia państw świata w XX wieku – Kambodża. Wydawnictwo Trio.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lunet de Lajonquière, E. (1911). Inventaire descriptif des monuments du Cambodge, vol. 3. Paris: E. Leroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malleret, L. (1959). III. Ouvrages circulaires en terre dans l’Indochine méridionale. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 49(2), 409-434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malleret, L. (1959). Làrchéologie du Delta du Mékong: L’exploration archéologique et les fouilles d’Oc-Èo. 2 v (Vol. 43). Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malleret, L. (1960). L’archéologie du delta du Mékong, Part 2. La Civilisation Matérielle d’Oc-Èo, 2. Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manguin, P. Y., & Khai, V. S. (2000). Excavations at the Ba The/Oc Eo complex (Viet Nam): a preliminary report on the 1998 campaign. Southeast Asian Archaeology, 1998, 107-121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansuy, H. (1902). Stations Préhistoriques de Samrong-Sen et de Longprao (Cambodge)(Prehistoric sites of Samrong Sen and Longprao (Cambodia). Hanoi: FG Schneider.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marciniak A. (2012) Paradygmaty badawcze w archeologii [w:] Przeszłość społeczna. Próba konceptualizacji, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, 29–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKnight, T. L., & Hess, D. (2000). Climate zones and types: the Köppen system. Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 235-7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, E. (1989). Water management in early Cambodia: evidence from aerial photography. Geographical journal, 204-214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, E. (1992). Water enclosed sites: links between Ban Takhong, northeast Thailand and Cambodia. The gift of water: water management, cosmology and the state in South East Asia, 26-46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, E. H. (1988). Moated Sites in Early North East Thailand (Vol. 400). British Archaeological Reports Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, D. J. (2014). Increasing complexity and the political economy model; a consideration of Iron Age moated sites in Thailand. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 35, 297-309.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, D. J. (2006). Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia. Rowman Altamira.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, R., & Cowley, D. (2010). Interpreting aerial images—developing best practice. In Space, time, place. Third international conference on remote sensing in archaeology (pp. 129-35).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pottier, C. (2006). Under the western Baray waters. Uncovering Southeast Asia’s Past. NUS Presse Singapore, 298-309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rączkowski, W. (2002). Archeologia lotnicza: metoda wobec teorii (No. 47). Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rączkowski, W. (2015). Aerial archaeology. In Field Archaeology from Around the World (pp. 19–25). Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinecke, A., & Lê, D. S. (1998). Einführung in Die Archäologie Vietnams. Linden-Soft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinecke, A., Laychour, V., & Sonetra, S. (2009). The first golden age of Cambodia: excavation at Prohear. Reinecke.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rispoli, F. (2007). The Incised & Impressed Pottery Style of Mainland Southeast Asia: Following the Paths of Neolithization. East and West, 235-304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romano, D. G. (2003). City Planning, Centuriation, and Land Division in Roman Corinth: Colonia Laus Iulia Corinthiensis & Colonia Iulia Flavia Augusta Corinthiensis. Corinth: Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 279-301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanks, M., & Tilley, C. (1987). Social archaeology. Social Theory and Archaeology, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 29-60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shimoda, I., Him, S., Seng, K., Chang, V., Chhum, M., So, S., & Nakagawa, T. (2006). Preliminary Report on the Excavation Survey at the Prasat Sambor, Sambor Prei Kuk, 2004 − 2005. Journal of Southeast Asian Archaeology, 26, 117-145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smagur, E & Hanus, K. (in press). Kattigara of Claudius Ptolemy and Óc Eo: the issue of trade between the Roman Empire and Funan. Proceeding of the XIV EurASEAA conference, Dublin 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer - Wood, S. M., & Baugher, S. (2010). Introduction to the historical archaeology of powered cultural landscapes. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 14 (4), 463 - 474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stargardt, J. (1992). ‘Muang Fa Daed: from prehistoric moated villages to Mon-Khmer style city; new archaeological studies of aerial images.’ in Ancient Khmer Cities of Lower North-East Thailand, (eds. Ishizawa, Y. and T.Kano). Tokyo, Sophia University, Institute of Asian Culture, in association with the Fine Arts Department of Thailand, 107-128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, M. T. (2003). Angkor Borei and the archaeology of Cambodia’s Mekong Delta. Art & Archaeology of Fu Nan: Pre-Khmer Kingdom of the Lower Mekong Valley, 87-106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, M. T. (2006). Early mainland Southeast Asian landscapes in the first millennium AD. Annu. Rev. Anthropol., 35, 407-432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, M. T. (2007). Pre-Angkorian settlement trends in Cambodia’s Mekong Delta and the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 26, 98-109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, M. T., Griffin, P., Phoeurn, C., Ledgerwood, J., Dega, M., Mortland, C.& Latinis, K. (1999). Results of the 1995-1996 archaeological field investigations at Angkor Borei, Cambodia. Asian perspectives 38(1), 7-36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szafar, T. (1971). W cieniu świątyń Angkoru. Kambodża wczoraj i dziś. Warszawa: Nasza Księgarnia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilley, C. (1994). A phenomenology of landscape: places, paths, and monuments (p. 10). Oxford: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanna, L. (2002). Rice remains in the prehistoric pottery tempers of the shell midden site of Samrong Sen: Implications for early rice cultivation in central Cambodia. Aséanie, 9(1), 13-34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanna, L. (2006). Living in a Proto-type Prehistoric Alluvial Environment: Water and the Villagers of Samrong Sen in Kampong Chhnang Province, Central Cambodia. WATER AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY, 131.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, J. C. (1995). Incorporating Heterarchy into Theory on Socio‐political Development: The Case from Southeast Asia. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 6(1), 101-123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolters, O. W. (1999). History, culture, and region in Southeast Asian perspectives (No. 26). SEAP Publications.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was generously provided by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland (Grant # DI2012 013542). The authors would like to thank Prof. Roland Fletcher, Prof. Włodzimierz Rączkowski, Dr Rachel Opitz, Dr Dougald O’Reilly, Dr Jarosław Źrałka and Mr Łukasz Banaszek for the discussions and comments on the draft of this paper. As well the author would like to acknowledge the people who provide organizational support: Ms Malay So, Ms Katarzyna Pilipowicz, Ms Paulina Dębicka and Mr Sam Player.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Ul. Gołębia 11, 31-007, Kraków, Poland

    Kasper Hanus & Emilia Smagur

  2. Institute of Prehistory, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Ul. Św. Marcin 78, 61-007, Poznań, Poland

    Kasper Hanus

Authors
  1. Kasper Hanus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Emilia Smagur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kasper Hanus .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Duke University Dept of Classical Studies, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Maurizio Forte

  2. Dept. of Archaeology & Art History, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Stefano Campana

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hanus, K., Smagur, E. (2016). Pre- and Proto-Historic Anthropogenic Landscape Modifications in Siem Reap Province (Cambodia) as Seen Through Satellite Imagery. In: Forte, M., Campana, S. (eds) Digital Methods and Remote Sensing in Archaeology. Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40658-9_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation