Residential patterning at Angkor Wat

17 pages. Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2015. First published on December 7th, 2015 at doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.159Considerable attention has been devoted to the architecture and art history of Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple in the last century. There has, however, been little research on the functions and internal organisation of the large rectangular enclosure surrounding the temple. Such enclosures have long been assumed to have been sacred precincts, or perhaps ‘temple-cities’: work exploring the archaeological patterning for habitation within them has been limited. The results of LiDAR survey and excavation have now revealed evidence for low-density residential occupation in these areas, possibly for those servicing the temple. Recent excavations within the enclosure challenge our traditional understanding of the social hierarchy of the Angkor Wat community and show that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been exclusively the preserve of the wealthy or the priestly elite.Gracious thanks are extended to the APSARA Authority for permission to undertake field investigations in the Angkor Wat enclosure, including HE Bun Narith, HE Ros Borath and An Sopheap, which were undertaken under ARC grant DP1092663. We thank So Malay and Martin King for administrative support, and GAP 2010 and 2013 crew members, whose labour produced this research. Damian Evans drafted Figures 1–5. Martin King and Alex Morrison provided additional graphical expertise; conversations with Christophe Pottier, Roland Fletcher, Ea Darith, Ian Lowman, David Brotherson and Paul Lavy were exceptionally helpful. Thanks also to Li Baoping, John Miksic and Louise Cort for identifications of Chinese tradewares in the 2010 excavated materials. We thank the PT McElhanney, Indonesia, company for its contribution to the LiDAR acquisition, which was funded by eight institutions in the Khmer Archaeology LiDAR Consortium: APSARA Authority, the University of Sydney, l’Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient, Societe Concessionaire d’Aeroport, the Hungarian Southeast Asian Research Institute, Japan- PSARA Safeguarding Angkor, the Archaeology and Development Foundation and the World Monuments Fund. All mistakes are the responsibility of the principal author