
Cambodia's vast medieval cities hidden beneath the jungle - kawera
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/11/lost-city-medieval-discovered-hidden-beneath-cambodian-jungle
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allisthemoist
_> LIDAR: An airborne laser scanner (ALS) is mounted to a helicopter skid pad.
Flying with pre-determined guidelines, including altitude, flight path and
airspeed, the ALS pulses the terrain with more than 16 laser beams per square
metre during flights. The time the laser pulse takes to return to the sensor
determines the elevation of each individual data point.

The data downloaded from the ALS is calibrated and creates a 3D model of the
information captured during the flights. In order to negate tree foliage and
manmade obstacles from the data, any sudden and radical changes in ground
height are mapped out, with technicians who have models of the terrain fine-
tuning the thresholds in processing these data points. Once completed, the
final 3D model is handed over to the archaeologists for analysis, which can
take months to process into maps._

It's so interesting that technology advancements must often precede discovery
and thus are part and parcel (imo) of the discovery process. The same can very
much also be said for medical and biological science - e.g., MRI and
associated analytic techniques.

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Idontreddit
"Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction" (McClellan, Dorn)
lays out an interest overview of how technology led science throughout world
history.

We naively think that science leads technology, but for much of history, it
was technology that led science/understanding. The telescope led astronomy and
the microscope led germ biology.

~~~
state
Also:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_and_Civilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_and_Civilization)

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f_allwein
Angkor is a fascinating place and well worth a visit - dozens of beautiful
temples, most of which were hidden by the jungle until the 19th century.
Angkor Wat, the biggest one, is particularly impressive. Very good place to
appreciate that empires come and go.

While it was known that Angkor was the capital of a vast empire around the
12th century, the news here is that large parts of that empire may now be
rediscovered.

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dankohn1
Amazing story. Here's a shot of me and my wife next to that moss-covered
elephant on Mount Kulen from 2004.

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4ebityp95a8ppm/PICT0481.jpg?dl=0](https://www.dropbox.com/s/r4ebityp95a8ppm/PICT0481.jpg?dl=0)

To get there, we rode through the jungle on the backs of motorbikes driven by
former Khmer Rouge soldiers. When my driver told our guide that I was
squeezing him too hard, I apologized profusely, even though I was afraid I
would fall off.

Incredible to think that there's a whole city underneath, although not
surprising given the post-apocalyptic feel to wondering through these ruins in
the jungle.

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fovc
This is fascinating. I wonder if it will accelerate the pace of restoration of
temples in the area. When I visited, there were many temple complexes
completely overrun with vegetation -- to the point where they filmed Indiana
Jones there!

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aaron695
The beauty of the jungle is kinda the point.

Not hard to poison a tree ;)

It's on purpose.

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fovc
I think the point is better understanding the history of Khmer civilization

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trextrex
Fascinating! This has been a month of big archaeological discoveries.

There was also a similar recent discovery [1] in India of a large urban
settlement that existed around the same time as the Indus Valley Civilization

[1] [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Harappa-
like...](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Harappa-like-site-
surfaces-in-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/52495353.cms)

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ProfChronos
Given the curse of the area, I'm kind of afraid by the discovery: place got
partly destroyed by the Khmer Rouges, then robbed by my fellow French and is
now under tight management by the Chinese. I really hope this will benefit
Cambodians

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tim333
>under tight management by the Chinese ?

I didn't see much Chinese influence when I was there and it's hundreds of
miles from China.

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rveeblefetzer
The general complaint is that Cambodia is under Vietnamese influence, mostly
stemming from its backing of and leading the defectors who overthrew the Khmer
Rouge. People today complain that the top govt officials are still Vietnamese,
whether by backing or by blood, as well as many of the richest tycoons; the
primary deputy prime minister (there's plenty) Sok An is often called a slave
to Vietnam, and he's in charge of the Apsara Authority, which manages the
Angkor complex; Sok Kong (unrelated), is one of Cambodia's richest men and ran
the conglomerate that held ticketing rights to Angkor for decades; he is
ethnically part Vietnamese, and because Angkor's tourism revenue was suspected
to be too low, complaints about the national landmark being sold off to
Vietnam were so huge that it factored in the last general election. An age-old
cultural hatred is at play here, which itself comes from old empire stuff.

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PieterH
Largest empire in the world in 1200? That seems... implausible.

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technosmurf
The agricultural systems around the big temple complexes suggest that over a
million people lived in the area.

[http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2007/08/metropolis-angkor-world...](http://ki-
media.blogspot.com/2007/08/metropolis-angkor-worlds-first-mega.html)

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cmarschner
Why am I expecting a comment on HN is like "This is not a surprise at all! I
have been using the shadows of the temples in the last three years to work on
my startup..."...

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phkahler
>> The findings are expected to challenge theories on how the Khmer empire
developed, dominated the region, and declined around the 15th century, and the
role of climate change and water management in that process.

Wait, climate change in the 15th century? ;-)

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sremani
[From Wikipedia Article of Khmer Empire] In addition, the input of Buddhist
ideas conflicted and disturbed the state order built under the predominate
Hinduism.[END]

