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In Cambodia Epic Urban Landscapes Unearthed by Airborne Archaeologists. Inside the main temple of the Preah Khan of Kompong Svay temple. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

In Cambodia Epic Urban Landscapes Unearthed by Airborne Archaeologists

In Cambodia epic urban landscapes unearthed by airborne archaeologists have rocked the archaeological world and we had an exclusive on the story for The Guardian. A recent airborne laser scanning survey of remote temples has produced remarkable outcomes, rewriting the history books.

In Cambodia Epic Urban Landscapes Unearthed by Airborne Archaeologists

Lara and I have been covering huge archaeological news here in Cambodia on epic urban landscapes unearthed by a 2015 airborne laser scanning survey, which broke yesterday in a story we had published in The Guardian. It’s a story that both confirms theories about the development of Khmer society, agriculture and urbanism, and debunks some myths, and it’s a story that we’ve been close to and with which we have a history.

The first airborne laser scanning survey in Cambodia

When we moved to Siem Reap in mid 2013, one of the first stories we covered was the release of a peer-reviewed report on the first groundbreaking Cambodian airborne laser scanning (ALS) survey, completed in 2012 by the architect of the Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative (CALI), Australian archaeologist Damian Evans, and local teams of archaeologists.

The research had such astonishing outcomes that we did a number of stories on the subject for The Guardian, CNN, National Geographic Traveller, Wanderlust, and other publications.

The 2012 survey confirmed that the ruins of the 9th century city of Mahendraparvata, long suspected of being hidden beneath the jungle floor of the densely forested mountain plateau, Phnom Kulen, did in fact exist. Dubbed “the lost city” by media (including our own editors at The Guardian) it was never really ‘lost’, rather its scale was partially revealed.

That 2012 survey also revealed that there was an incredibly dense and complex urban landscape around the temple-city of Angkor Wat and other temple sites such as Beng Mealea and Koh Ker, suggesting these were satellite cities connected to Angkor.

The latest 2015 airborne laser scanning survey

In the recent 2015 airborne laser scanning survey, again headed by Damian Evans, now a Research Fellow at the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in Siem Reap, the team gathered data on a far greater area covering a number of remote archaeological sites in northern and central Cambodia, unearthing epic urban landscapes in the process.

This time at Mount Kulen the survey revealed that the 9th century city of Mahendraparvata had covered a continuous area of a colossal 40–50km², a significant discovery by any measure.

There were an array of other impressive findings from across Northern Cambodia with epic urban landscapes identified at other far-flung temple sites, particularly sprawling Preah Khan of Kompong Svay.

There were also fascinating discoveries at the pre-Angkorian temple city of Sambor Prei Kuk, the garrison-city of Banteay Chhmar, and the post-Angkorian capitals of Longvek and Oudong not far from Phnom Penh.

Evans will speak about the findings at the Royal Geographical Society in London at 8pm on Monday when an article he has authored in the Journal of Archaeological Science will concurrently publish.

Why this is groundbreaking and gamechanging

Why these airborne laser scanning surveys are proving so groundbreaking is that the old tropical-forest civilisations in monsoonal Asia only used masonry for temples, bridges and features related to water management, such as moats.

Domestic buildings and other structures in urban and agricultural areas were made of earth and wood.

Easily perishable in the harsh climate, the structures disappeared centuries before modern-day archaeologists arrived to hack their way through jungles to see stone temples, inscriptions and works of sculpture and art as proof of these great civilisations.

Until recent years, archaeology was a lucky dip of guesswork and shards of pottery, and, even if a dig was successful, the relics found did not contribute to assessing the extent of the urban landscape and its settlements and structures.

Enter airborne laser scanning (ALS), a cutting-edge technology that is game-changing.

How Airborne Laser Scanning Surveys Work

In the 2015 survey, a Leica airborne laser scanner and a 60 megapixel Leica camera were mounted to the helicopter’s right skid pad. The altitude and positional data of the helicopter were measured by other instruments mounted on the helicopter.

The aircraft flew at a pre-determined altitude (generally 800–1000m) and a pre-determined path at a pre-determined airspeed (∼80 knots), all the while hitting the terrain with over 16 laser beams per square metre. The time the laser pulse takes to return to the sensor is a function of distance and determines the elevation of each individual data point.

The tens of billions of data points collected during the 90 hours of flights are then calibrated, and corrected for aircraft position and aircraft attitude, based on GPS (Global Positioning System) data and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) data. This ensures that the data is as accurate as possible.

The most complex part of the process comes next — sorting the ground from the trees. At this stage there is a 3D point cloud — a 3D model of all the information captured during the flights.

To get an accurate terrain map, the essential principle is that any sudden and radical changes in ground height are probably trees — but this is calibrated depending on the terrain that has been flown over. For instance, the parameters in processing this data would be different for outback bush country in Australia verses a pine forest in Cyprus. The technicians processing the data fine tune this to get the most accurate results.

After this data processing (this survey, the largest ever undertaken, took several months of number-crunching), the final 3D point cloud is given to the archaeologists who can then feed this information into a GIS (geographic information system). This allows the archaeologists to create a ‘true’ map of the terrain. In Cambodia, this unearthed epic urban landscapes, such as the one on Phnom Kulen — a truly striking discovery that had been impossible to grasp the scope of through ground work alone.

The challenge of collecting this data in Cambodia is complicated by the weather, as finding the perfect time of year to do these flights is tricky. It is best to do it at the end of the dry season when there is the least amount of leaves on the trees to help with accurate data acquisition.

While this may coincide with the local farmers doing their annual burn-off, the reduced ground cover helps with collecting data. On the downside, smoke and haze can be a problem which is why the archaeologists pray that the first of the monsoon rains come early, but are not heavy enough to hamper flight operations. It’s a gamble when the survey is costing over one million Euros.

Confident after the ground-breaking results of the first survey in 2012, which covered 370km², Dr Evans undertook a far more ambitious 2015 survey covering 1,910km². As the results of the 2012 survey are still being analysed and interpreted, Dr Evans sees this 2015 survey informing research papers and further field digs for many years to come.

Discoveries that will rewrite the history books

While the discoveries about the city of Mahendraparvata were astonishing enough on their own, findings at several other sites are significant. At the temple complex of Sambor Prei Kuk, a capital of the pre-Angkor period (8th-9th centuries), a complex water management system, once thought to be an Angkor-period invention, has been discovered.

The area around Sambor Prei Kuk is also far more densely urbanised than previously thought and the form of an ancient highway has also been identified, connecting Preah Khan and Sambor Prei Kuk. This runs counter to the theory that ‘all roads lead to Angkor’ and suggests a provincial loop or ring-road that may alter how archaeologists envisage transportation and communication channels between these once strong urban centres.

At two significant other provincial centres of the Khmer Empire, Banteay Chhmar (known for its spectacular walls covered in vivid bas-reliefs) and Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (best known for being heavily looted), the findings are disparate.

At Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, the discoveries indicate that there was a distinct urban layout within the central moat, contradicting a recent ground survey that concluded that this area was only thinly inhabited.

ALS data for Banteay Chhmar, on the other hand, has showed little evidence of an urban grid, reducing its likelihood that it was a planned city and possibly suggesting that it was a planned urban centre that was not completed.

Perhaps the most intriguing findings are related to the theory that the Angkorian empire met a catastrophic demise in the 15th century, often attributed to a Siamese invasion. If this theory held true, this would suggest a mass exodus of the urban population of Angkor to the post-Angkorian capitals of Longvek or Oudong, both close to Phnom Penh.

The data collected, however, indicates that these centres were not extensive enough to inhabit a diaspora of those massive numbers of exiles from Angkor. Such findings upend all current theories and will eventually lead to a rewriting of the history books.

“Putting People Back into the Picture”

While currently prohibitively expensive, these airborne laser scanning surveys may one day become common hi-tech techniques in the arsenal of archaeologists. An airborne laser scanner can indeed be attached to a drone for short surveys.

Until then, the romantic view of archaeologists making major discoveries by digging a little patch of ground while sweltering under a burning sun will persist. Yet it’s ironic that Damian Evans and his team at the EFEO are in an air-conditioned office stacked full of humming computers, making discoveries that will end up telling us far more about the bigger picture of how the urban population actually lived.

As Dr Evans said in a video interview we did with him recently in the leafy grounds of Wat Enkosei in Siem Reap, “One of the great values of this data is that it puts people back into the picture. Instead of these cold grey sandstone monuments, what you all of a sudden have is an understanding of them as lived-in spaces, as places where people were born and lived and died and built cities.”

Click through to watch our video interview with Dr Damian Evans on the 2015 Cambodian lidar survey, how lidar works, and the most significant discoveries of the Cambodia airborne laser scanning surveys of both 2012 and 2015.

Note: while it should be obvious this content is original and is copyright, Lara has had her Guardian story, including interviews we conducted here in Siem Reap on audio and video-tape, plagiarised. If you’re an editor looking for a story, email us.

Support our Cambodia Cookbook & Culinary History Book with a donation or monthly pledge on Patreon.

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About Terence Carter

Terence Carter is an editorial food and travel photographer and infrequent travel writer with a love of photographing people, places and plates of food. After living in the Middle East for a dozen years, he settled in South-East Asia a dozen years ago with his wife, travel and food writer and sometime magazine editor Lara Dunston.

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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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