Angkor revealed to be the largest ancient city of all time

In Cambodia during the 8 ^th century AD the city of Angkor was built. The magnificent capital of the ancient Khmer Empire, the ‘City of Temples’ - enormous temples, a complex irrigation system, paved roads, beautiful buildings are some of the characteristics of Angkor.

A recent report that has done a laser survey from the air of the area, reveals that the area of Angkor was even much bigger than what we thought of. The LiDAR technique uses laser, scanner and optics to image objects and landscapes in very high resolution revealing details that never before would have been possible with any other technique.

The data that was gathered by using the LiDAR has revealed that the urban network of Angkor was immense. What we see of Angkor today is only a small part while most of the city is still buried underground, Dr Damian Evans of the University of Sydney said.

Since 1860 that Angkor has been rediscovered excavations keep going with more and more discoveries coming to the surface. All the mounds that have been considered unimportant until now, may hide buildings and temples including the 487 meter high mount Phnom Kulen. Large stone statues and probably undiscovered treasure await silently beneath the surface for the next explorer to discover them.

The results of the study have shown that the urban network of Angkor is probably the largest of the ancient world ever discovered. The beauty of and built quality of the Angkor city cannot be compared to any other modern city today.

By John Black