Civilization of Angkor FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The Civilization of Angkor is remarkable and unique in that it delves into the prehistoric roots of the civilization. Higham is THE international authority on southeast Asian archaeology, and presents an up-to-date and provocative synthesis of Angkor."-Brian Fagan, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara , author of Floods, Famines, and Emperors:El Niño and the Fate of Civilizations, and co-editor of The Oxford Companion to Archaeology.
"In blending archaeological and documentary data to chronicle the rise of this important Southeast Asian state, Higham's rich history of Angkor effectively refutes traditional models of state development in the Mekong region and offers insights regarding the nature of Angkor and the processes that led to its emergence."-Miriam Stark, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawai'i and editor of The Archaeology of Social Boundaries
Author Biography:Charles Higham has been active in archaeological research in Southeast Asia since 1969. He has published a series of final excavation reports and is the author of three major syntheses of the region's prehistory, The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, and Prehistoric Thailand (written with Rachanie Thosarat). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
SYNOPSIS
28 b/w photographs, 9 maps
In the late sixteenth century a mythical encounter was reported during an elephant hunt in the dense north of the Tonle Sap, or Great Lake of central Cambodia. King Satha of Cambodia and his retainers were beating a path through the undergrowth when they were halted by stone giants and a massive wall. The King, the fable reported, ordered six thousand men to clear away the forest overgrowth around the wall, thereby exposing the city of Angkor—"lost" for over a century.
Subsequent reports from Portuguese missionaries described its five gateways, with bridges flanked by stone figures leading across a moat. There were idols covered in gold, inscriptions, fountains, canals, and a "temple with five towers, called Angor." For four centuries, this huge complex has inspired awe among visitors from all over the world, but only now are its origins and history becoming clear.
This book begins with the development of the prehistoric communities of the area and draws on the author's recent excavations to portray the rich and expansive chiefdoms that existed at the dawn of civilization. It covers the origins of early states, up to the establishment, zenith, and decline of this extraordinary civilization, whose most impressive achievement was the construction of the gilded temple mausoleum of Angkor Wat in the twelfth century, allegedly by 70,000 people.
Drawing on the latest research on prehistoric archaeology, epigraphy, and art history, Charles Higham has written a clear and concise history of this remarkable civilization.
FROM THE CRITICS
Times Literary Supplement
Charts the structure and development of this fabulous empire.
Archaeology
Combines archaeological and literary evidence in tracing the rise and abandonment of Angkor (in A.D. 1431. Cambodia's ancient monuments at Angkor are so familiar that we can all chuckle at this comment of a Portuguese author in 1609: 'I confess I hesitate to write this,it appears as fantastic as the Atlantis of Plato.' Yet few of us know much about the civilization's origins. Let Higham fill you in.
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