Radiocarbon Dating of a Speleothem Record of Paleoclimate for Angkor, Cambodia

A speleothem from southern Cambodia, analyzed using radiocarbon dating, reveals a significant growth hiatus between approximately 1250 and 1650 AD, coinciding with decades-long droughts documented in regional climate records. This finding provides critical evidence linking the decline of the medieval Khmer kingdom at Angkor to severe arid conditions during the 14th–16th centuries. The study employed accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) on 50 carbonate samples along the speleothem's growth axis, with chronological reconstruction validated by two independent age-depth models. The abrupt shift in radiocarbon values at a depth of 34.4–35.2 mm marks the onset of this prolonged drought period, offering new insights into the environmental factors contributing to the collapse of Angkor.

Hua, Q., Cook, D., Fohlmeister, J., Penny, D., Bishop, P., & Buckman, S. (2017). Radiocarbon Dating of a Speleothem Record of Paleoclimate for Angkor, Cambodia. Radiocarbon, 59(6), 1873–1890. https://doi.org/10.1017/rdc.2017.115