Temple occupation and the tempo of collapse at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

A revised chronology for Angkor Wat's occupation reveals a more complex and protracted decline of the Angkorian Empire (9th–15th century CE) than previously understood. Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling from 16 samples indicate initial use in the 11th century, followed by habitation until the 13th century, with a notable gap suggesting a shift in mound usage. Surprisingly, the site was reoccupied in the late 14th to early 15th centuries, persisting until the 17th or 18th centuries, contradicting historical accounts of abandonment during the 15th-century collapse. This fine-grained analysis underscores Angkor Wat's enduring ideological and residential significance, even after the empire's decline.

Carter, A. K., Stark, M. T., Quintus, S., Zhuang, Y., Wang, H., Heng, P., & Chhay, R. (2019). Temple occupation and the tempo of collapse at Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(25), 12226–12231. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821879116