Ancient City of 'Mahendraparvata' Hidden Beneath Cambodian Jungle

[Judi Lynn]

By Yasemin Saplakoglu - Staff Writer 8 days ago



The ancient city is hidden under the thick vegetation of Phnom Kulen. (Image: © Archaeology Development Foundation)


Ancient stone inscriptions tell tales of a city called Mahendraparvata. The once-mighty metropolis was one of the first capitals of the Khmer empire, which ruled in Southeast Asia between the ninth and 15th centuries. It was long believed that the ancient city was hidden beneath thick vegetation on a Cambodian mountain, not far from the temple of Angkor Wat.

Now, thanks to an incredibly detailed map, researchers can "definitively" say that the ruins, overgrown by thick vegetation on the mountain of Phnom Kulen, are in fact from that 1,000-year-old city. The ancient city was never really lost, as Cambodians have been making religious pilgrimages to the site for hundreds of years.

"It's always been suspected that the city of Mahendraparvata that's talked about in the inscriptions was indeed somewhere up here in the mountains," said study co-author Damian Evans, a research fellow with the French School of the Far East (EFEO) in Paris. Now, "we can say for sure: Definitely, this is the place."

In a collaboration between the EFEO, the Archeology and Development Foundation in the U.K., and the APSARA National Authority (a government agency responsible for protecting the Angkor region in Cambodia), researchers combined airborne laser scanning with ground surveys and excavations to weave a narrative of the development and demise of this ancient city.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/ancient-city-mahendraparvata-mapped.html