News in Brief Archaeology

Ancient Angkor’s mysterious decline may have been slow, not sudden

Sediment analyses suggest that the city’s elite gradually abandoned the Khmer Empire capital

Angkor

CREEPING DEMISE  Once the world’s biggest city, Angkor in Cambodia waned slowly as its ruling class left throughout the 1300s, researchers say.

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By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Angkor’s moat is giving up the medieval Cambodian city’s secrets, showing that the metropolis gradually dwindled over roughly a century.