Angkor

Severe climate change in the fourteenth century led to catastrophic flooding and drought at Angkor, disrupting its water management system and contributing to the site's decline. This study reveals that mega-monsoons eroded central canals and deposited sand, reducing Greater Angkor's resilience to subsequent droughts—a critical factor in its transformation from a thriving urban complex to an early modern settlement form by the sixteenth century. The research traces Angkor's evolution from two low-density towns (Bhavapura and Hariharalaya) into a multicentric city, with development expanding westward, southward, and northward before stabilizing in the thirteenth century.

Fletcher, R., & Pottier, C. (2022). Angkor. The Oxford Handbook of Early Southeast Asia, 703–731. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199355358.013.33