Consideration on the construction process and the sandstone quarries during the Angkor period based on the magnetic susceptibility

Detailed magnetic susceptibility measurement was conducted on the sandstones used for the Angkor monuments constructed in the period spanning the Preah Ko and Angkor Wat styles, and the construction process of the buildings and quarries of the sandstones was considered. Combined with the previous study on the sandstones of the Bayon style [Uchida, E., Cunin, O., Shimoda, I., Suda, C., Nakagawa, T., 2003. The construction process of the Angkor monuments elucidated by the magnetic susceptibility of sandstone, Archaeometry 45, 221–232], the magnetic susceptibility measurement revealed that there were 7 sandstone quarries corresponding to Stages I, II, III, IVa, V, VII and VIIIb during the Angkor period. The sandstones used for the monuments belonging to Stage I show average magnetic susceptibility values ranging from 1.1 to 2.3 × 10⁻³ SI units. In the Bakheng style period (Stage II), the average magnetic susceptibility of the supplied sandstones decreased gradually from around 10 to 1 × 10⁻³ SI units over time. The magnetic susceptibility range of the sandstones used for the monuments of Stage III was from 2.3 to 3.0 × 10⁻³ SI units. In the early Angkor Wat style period (IVb), the average magnetic susceptibility of the supplied sandstones increased over time, reflecting the supply of the sandstones from two different quarries, that is, the quarry corresponding to the Khleang and Baphuon style monuments (Stage IVa), with low average magnetic susceptibilities of 1.1 to 2.4 × 10⁻³ SI units, and the quarry corresponding to the main Angkor Wat style monuments (Stage V), with high average magnetic susceptibilities ranging from 2.8 to more than 4.3 × 10⁻³ SI units. The sandstones of Stage VII show low average magnetic susceptibility around 1 × 10⁻³ SI unit. The sandstones of Stage VId is a mixture of sandstones of Stages V and those of Stage VII. The sandstones with high magnetic susceptibilities are found in the monuments belonging to Stage VIIIb, reflecting the supply from the new sandstone quarry.     

Protecting World Heritage: Regulating Ownership and Land Use at Angkor Archaeological Park,Cambodia

This paper contemplates whether, and in what ways, proprietary interests in land and land usage are affected by a World Heritage listing, using Angkor Archaeological Park, Cambodia, as the case study. The effect is measured through the identification and synthesis of the national legislative and local regulatory response to the implementation of the World Heritage listing. Such an analysis illustrates that the listing imposes significant restraints on land use and ownership which impact directly on the local resident communities of Angkor. A breakdown of the regulatory response also highlights the limitations inherent in the existing regulatory framework. There is a consideration of the concept of ‘ownership’ in a World Heritage site of ‘outstanding universal value’. In raising these issues, this paper highlights the challenges facing heritage managers in attempting to marry local needs with the demands of international heritage protection in the setting of a post‐conflict Southeast Asian nation.     

Unearthing an Atlantean myth in Angkor: geoarchaeological investigation of the ‘underwater road’ crossing the Tonle Sap Lake,Cambodia

Of the many myths surrounding the medieval city of Angkor, Cambodia, one of the most obscure but pervasive is the existence of a road built across the Tonle Sap Lake. This road supposedly ran from the Angkorian ‘port’ at Phnom Krom to the temples situated in the Battambang district some 70 km southwest of capital. New geoarchaeological information demonstrates that the ‘road’ is actually a series of localised occurrences of authegenic calcite, which probably formed approximately 5500 years Before Present. Our results demystify this intractable Cambodian legend expand on the dynamic history of this important water body in mainland Southeast Asia.     

Nature and provenance of the sandstone used for Bayon style sculptures produced during the reign of Jayavarman VII

Under Jayavarman VII (1182/83-ca.1218 CE) the Khmer empire reached its apex, leaving a heritage of major construction works and unique artistic production. The stone materials of several sculptures produced under his reign were characterized and compared to possible geological sources in northern and eastern Cambodia. The data suggest that a specific type of sandstone, rich in volcanic detritus, was deliberately selected and quarried from a Triassic sedimentary sequence exposed far from Angkor, the main political and economic center at that time.     

Moisture content measurement and surface water absorption test in the inner gallery of Bayon for the conservation of the bas-relief

The bas-relief carved on the sandstone wall in the central part of the inner gallery of Bayon in the Angkor monuments, Cambodia, has been severely damaged mainly due to calcite crystallization. In order to confirm the mechanism of salt weathering and help determine conservation measures for the bas-relief, measurements of the annual change in the moisture content in the bas-relief were conducted. We found that water supplied from the platform behind the bas-relief is the cause of calcite crystallization. It is therefore indispensable for the conservation of the bas-relief to prevent the water permeating from the inside of the platform behind it. As precipitated calcite from the water block pores near the surface of the sandstone, the surface water absorption test is a useful method to evaluate the degree of the salt weathering.     

A Reconsideration of the Construction Period of the Cruciform Terraces and the Elevated Causeways in the Angkor Monuments,Based on the Magnetic Susceptibility of the Sandstone Blocks*

In this paper, the construction period of the cruciform terraces with columns and the elevated causeways in the Angkor monuments of Cambodia is reconsidered, based on the results of our investigation of magnetic susceptibility and other characteristics of sandstone blocks. From an art‐historical point of view, they are generally considered as modifications in the post‐Bayon style period—the period during the reign of Jayavarman VIII (1243–95 ce ) or later. However, from a lithological point of view, the average magnetic susceptibilities of the sandstone blocks in the cruciform terraces with columns and the elevated causeways are consistent with the rest of the monument. In addition, the characteristics of the sandstone blocks in the cruciform terraces, such as their shape, the orientation of the bedding plane and the stacking method, suggest that they were constructed in the same period as the rest of the monument.     

Reimagining the City of Fire and Iron: A landscape archaeology of the Angkor-Period Industrial Complex of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay,Cambodia (ca. 9th to 13th centuries A.D.)

In the archaeological literature regional centers often receive far less attention than capital regions and the medieval Khmer Empire (ca. 9th to 15th centuries a.d.) is a classic case in point. At its height, the Khmer Empire stretched across much of mainland Southeast Asia, and it remains the most extensive dominion in the history of the region. To date, however, relatively little archaeological work has been completed outside of the capital of Angkor, and we have a limited understanding of the broader dynamics of the Empire. In this paper we begin to address this lacuna at the remote monumental complex of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, the largest of all the Angkor-period regional centers. We describe the use of remote sensing and ground survey methods to produce the first comprehensive archaeological map of the site. The map data are used to evaluate conventional interpretations of the site as a major industrial complex, urban center and military outpost. The findings have implications for our understanding of early urbanism, industrial production and imperial expansion in the region.     

Migration and left-behind parents and children of migrants in Cambodia: a look at household composition and the economic situation

ABSTRACT

This paper examines composition of households formed after the outmigration of a household member in rural Cambodian and correlates household types with indicators of economic condition. The paper focuses on households containing left-behind parents and the children of migrants. Excess mortality in the 1970s due to war suggests the association between migration and economic condition may be gendered. This could be exacerbated when migration leads to a skip-generation household containing a left-behind parent and a child of migrant without an own parent of the child present. Data come from the Cambodian Rural-Urban Migration Project (CRUMP), a project designed to study migration in rural Cambodia. Most households formed after a migration contain a left-behind parent of migrant. While about 22 per cent of these households contain a left-behind child of migrant, the per cent is over 60 per cent when the migrant is themselves a parent. The economic situation tends to be worst for left behind solo mothers (mothers of migrants who do not live with a spouse) and best for left-behind coupled parents of migrants. There is evidence that the combination of left-behind solo mothers living with children of migrants in a skip-generation situation is the most disadvantaged.     

Oxygen and strontium isotopes as provenance indicators of fish at archaeological sites: the case study of Sagalassos,SW Turkey

In this paper, we investigate the potential use of oxygen and strontium isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O_p and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) measured in archaeological fish enamel as provenance indicators. δ¹⁸O_p and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr were measured in a suite of archaeological carp remains recovered from the Anatolian townsite of Sagalassos dated to the Early Byzantine period (AD 450–650) and compared to that of modern fish, river and lake waters from the Anatolian region. We used sequential leaches in weak acetic acid to remove diagenetic Sr from fossil tooth enamel, monitoring the effectiveness of this approach by measuring the Sr/Ca ratios of the leachates via an isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry method (ID-TIMS). δ¹⁸O_p values mostly excluded a riverine origin. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of one fish overlapped with the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures of two lakes in the Anatolian region, and at least one lake (Gölcük) could be removed as a candidate owing to a very distinctive ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signature not found in any of the fish remains. Most of the tooth samples analyzed could not be assigned a precise geographical origin since the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios measured in enamel did not match that of any of the local lakes selected as potential origin. This result suggests that carp may have originated from lakes that have not yet been sampled, although this conclusion is not supported by other archaeological evidence. Alternatively, the lack of correspondence between lakes and fish Sr isotope ratios highlights several possible sources of uncertainties including spatial heterogeneity in ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio within a lake, the contribution of dietary strontium to the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of fish tooth enamel, and post-mortem alteration of the tooth Sr isotope signal during fossilization. In spite of the high precision of the strontium isotope analyses and the wide range of variation in the surface waters of the Anatolian lakes and rivers, this method may remain limited to distinguishing between lakes situated in regions of bedrock of very distinct age and geology until these sources of uncertainty are more fully investigated.     

Temporal nature and recycling of Upper Paleolithic artifacts: the burned tools from the Molí del Salt site (Vimbodí i Poblet,northeastern Spain)

Recent research in Paleolithic archeology has stressed the importance of temporal issues in assemblage interpretation. Archeological assemblages are temporal constructs, formed by the addition of an unknown number of depositional events. This temporal dimension is also evident at the artifactual level, since single artifacts may undergo different events of modification and/or uses over time. The recycling of previously discarded blanks for tool production is one of the best examples of the temporal nature of artifacts. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the importance of recycling in a Late Upper Paleolithic site, examining a type of artifact – burned tools – that has up to now been little used to approach this issue. Our results suggest that recycling was probably a significant component of Upper Paleolithic provisioning behavior, with important implications in site formation processes and the typological variability of assemblages. The expedient or curated character of recycling is also discussed.     

Determining the provenance of black limestone artifacts using petrography,isotopes and EPR techniques: the case of the monument of Bocco

This paper investigates the provenance of the black limestone of the monument known as Bocco, named after the king of Mauretania who presented Silla with this work as a sign of his submission to the power of Rome. A multi-method approach, comprising petrographic observations, carbon and oxygen isotope composition and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra characteristics, was used for this purpose. The monument is part of a reconstruction of a rectangular base (approx. 8 × 2 m) which is likely to have served as the base for a bronze statuary group and is currently composed of six blocks of limestone whose exterior is engraved with a fine frieze. The results of the different analyses were compared with the data of a published database of the most important black limestone quarries exploited during Roman times in the Mediterranean area. The petrographic and physico-chemical parameters did not prove to be very effective in determining the provenance of the black limestone of Bocco; the isotopes result even raised some uncertainty as to whether all six blocks came from the same quarry, though this doubt was dispelled by the EPR data and, above all, by the evident petrographic similarity between them. Differences in the isotopic composition of the various blocks may be due to an in situ rock alteration process caused by interaction with an aqueous fluid. It was, however, impossible to determine with certainty the origin of the material of the stone artifact using the database available; it is possible that the black limestone of Bocco came from an ancient quarry that is likely to be located in north western Africa but has not yet been uncovered. An alternative hypothesis, according to which the limestone used for the monument of Bocco came from the ancient quarry of Ain el Ksir, one of the Tunisian quarries present in the database, is also discussed.     

Studies on amerindian dogs, 1: Carbon isotopes in relation to maize in the diet of domestic dogs from early Peru and Ecuador

Work initiated purely as a dating project in support of a craniometric and morphological investigation of domestic dogs from early Peru has proved to have much wider implications. The stable carbon isotoperatios (¹³C/¹²C) of hair samples from ten dogs show that maize formed a significant part of their diet. Radiocarbon dates for these remains have confirmed that they belong to the period well after the cultivation of maize was first established. Stable carbon isotope measurements can thus be used to test for the presence of maize as a dietary constituent at earlier sites even where there is otherwise only indirect evidence for its cultivation. Collagen from animal or human bone is a suitable alternative to hair for this purpose and the method has been successfully applied to collagen dating to c. 3000 BC from the Valdivia culture site of Real Alto, Ecuador, as well as to a series of early Peruvian dogs.     

Towards a Risk Management and Conservation Plan for the Djin Blocks at the World Heritage Site of Petra,Jordan: The Case of Djin Block No. 9

Cultural heritage is subjected to many pressures and risks. Over the past few years, the use of digital technologies has significantly changed the approaches to cultural heritage documentation for the purpose of condition assessment and conservation. The integration of novel approaches and techniques has permitted a detailed examination and assessment of damage, deterioration due to weathering and erosion, and their mechanisms. This study seeks to contribute to the preservation and conservation of the significant heritage of the so-called Djin Blocks at the World Heritage Site of Petra in Jordan. While these three dimensional cuboid rock-cut monuments have been subject to extensive conservation studies, this is the first time they have been subjected to 3D recording and multispectral photography, with the aim of recording damage caused by the ravages of time.

This study presents the results of the documentation of the case study Djin Block No. 9. A variety of systematic documentation techniques were used, including 3D recording with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), close-range photogrammetry, multispectral imaging, and thermography records. In addition, pathological studies of the erosion from various causes and an analysis of the effect of weathering on Djin Block No. 9 are performed. Based on this data, the paper presents recommendations for developing risk management and conservation planning of Djin Block No. 9.