Author Description

This new edition of the concise but authoritative survey of Khmer culture incorporates new discoveries that will completely rewrite history. The ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia has fascinated scholars and visitors alike since its rediscovery in the mid-19th century. The beauty and multiplicity of the sculptures that adorn its temples and structures are striking, its sheer size overwhelming—in the archaeological world, nothing equals it. This concise but complete and authoritative survey of Khmer culture has now been thoroughly updated to incorporate new discoveries that will completely rewriting history. Although archaeologists and scholars have done pioneering work on the history of Angkor and the Khmer civilization that built it, questions remained. Recently, however, our knowledge has been revolutionized by cutting-edge technology: airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) has revealed previously unkown details about cities, revealing a complex urban landscape with highways and waterways. These discoveries profoundly transform our assumptions about the development and supposed decline of Angkor. In this new edition, respected archaeologist Michael Coe is joined by Damian Evans, who led this remarkable program of scientific exploration, to present for the first time in book form the results and implications of these groundbreaking revelations.