Satrey Khmer Online

Study of Angkor’s demise provides a warning
By destroying forest, inhabitants of Cambodia’s city lit ecological time bomb.

A young Buddhisdt monk is seated on a
bench inside Bayon temple, famous for
its multitude of giant stone faces, Nov. 22, 2007,
near Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Voishmel / AFP - Getty Images file

SIEM REAP, Cambodia - By destroying vast tracts of forest to enlarge their farm land, inhabitants of the wondrous city of Angkor lit the fuse to an ecological time bomb that spelled doom for what was once the world’s largest urban area. So believe archaeologists engaged in groundbreaking research into the ancient civilization of Angkor. And they are warning that history could repeat itself through reckless, headlong pursuit of dollars from tourists flocking to see Angkor’s fabled monuments.

“It’s just a weird cycle. It seems like Angkor is self-repeating itself,” said Mitch Hendrickson, who recently led an excavation as part of research into Angkor as a human settlement. Conservationists have long expressed concerns about the state of the monuments, especially the stress from the tourist invasion. They also say the uncontrolled pumping of underground water to meet rising demand of hotels, guesthouses and residents in the adjoining town of Siem Reap may be destabilizing the earth beneath the centuries-old temples so much that they might sink and collapse.