Excavating Angkor: Household Archaeology at Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument and was an important state temple in one of the largest preindustrial settlements in the world. While the Angkorian civilization has been the focus of art historical, architectural, and epigraphic studies, we know little of the daily lives of the ancient people who built, managed, and lived among the temples that are popular tourist attractions today. The “Excavating Angkor” project aims to fill this gap by undertaking an excavation on a mound within the Angkor Wat enclosure in order to understand the daily activities of the people who lived next to the temple. This research project draws on previous fieldwork at Angkor Wat and recent lidar survey data to test three hypothesis: that the mounds within the enclosure were used for occupation, that they were inhabited by non-elites, and that the mounds and dwellings may have served as short-term occupation areas for temporary workgroups.
In June-July 2015 we undertook a horizontal excavation on a mound within the Angkor Wat enclosure. We found a possible house structure, numerous sandstone pieces that might have been used in/around a house, and over 28 kilo of ceramics. Our post-fieldwork analyses include investigating the macrobotanical remains, pollen and phytolith remains, geoarchaeological studies, and soil chemistry on possible house floors. In doing so, we aim to better understand the nature of occupation, the possibility for household gardens, subsistence patterns, and the spatial distribution of the activities taking place on the mound.
We were also lucky enough to take samples from excavation trenches (excavated by Chhay Rachna and the APSARA Authority) within the geometric spiral features south of the Angkor Wat moat (see in picture below). We hypothesize that these features may have been large, state-sponsored gardens and we aim to test this hypothesis with geoarchaeological and botanical studies of these features. This work also provides a valuable comparison with data collected from the house mound.
Digital terrain model of Angkor Wat derived from lidar ground returns extruded according to height with 2x vertical exaggeration. Image courtesy of Damian Evans /Khmer Archaeology Lidar Consortium
This household archaeology approach complements macro-scale research that has focused on elucidating broader settlement patterns and large-scale water management within the Angkorian civilization, and provides a foundation for future studies of Angkorian residential variability and non-elite members of the Angkorian society.
Fieldwork for this project was undertaken in June-July 2015 and we hope to undertake continued research in 2018. This project is a part of the Greater Angkor Project in collaboration with the APSARA Authority.
Collaborators:
-Mr. Chhay Rachna, APSARA Authority, project co-director
-Dr. Cristina Castillo, University College London, macrobotanical specialist
-Dr. Yijie Zhuang, University College London, geoarchaeology specialist
-Dr. Alison Weisskopf, University College London, phytolith specialist
-Tegan McGillivray, University of Wisconsin-Madison, pollen/phytolith specialist
-Fieldwork team members: Vitou Phirom (APSARA Authority), Moung Raksmey (APSARA Authority), Moul Komnet (APSARA Authority), An Seyma (Royal University of Fine Arts), Bun Sreivy (Royal University of Fine Arts), Pipad Krajaejun (School of Oriental and African Studies), Catherine King (University of the Philippines), Gary Marriner (University of New England), Suy Pov, Nico Unay (University of the Philippines).
This project was made possible with funding from National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, with additional funding from Dumbarton Oaks.
Alison Carter wrote a short piece summarizing the 2015 fieldwork for the Khmer Times.
You can read a short article on our 2015 fieldwork in the Phnom Penh Post and on a Spanish language news site.
Photos from our 2015 Fieldwork at Angkor Wat:
Excavations at Angkor Wat. Pov SUY (in the trench), Pipad KRAJAEJUN (standing), Alison CARTER, and Phirom VITOU, discussing the stratigraphy in a trench. Photo from Raksmey MUONG.
Ceramics found in 2015 Excavations: Top left – the tail of an Angkorian brown-glazed elephant jar; top right – a complete Angkorian “khouch” vessel; bottom left – Chinese tradeware ceramics; bottom right – Angkorian earthenware ceramics.
A view of the excavation trenches within the trees at Angkor Wat in June 2015. Photo by Alison Carter.
The 2015 excavation team at Angkor Wat. Photo from Alison Carter.