Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex

A groundbreaking study estimates that the medieval Greater Angkor Region, one of the world's largest premodern settlement complexes (9th to 15th centuries CE), housed approximately 700,000 to 900,000 inhabitants at its peak in the 13th century. This finding, derived from a novel integration of lidar data, archaeological excavations, radiocarbon dating, and machine learning algorithms, provides the first comprehensive demographic model for Angkor. The research offers a granular, diachronic perspective on population growth within this ancient civilization, with potential applications for studying other historical urban centers.

Klassen, S., Carter, A. K., Evans, D. H., Ortman, S., Stark, M. T., Loyless, A. A., Polkinghorne, M., Heng, P., Hill, M., Wijker, P., Niles-Weed, J., Marriner, G. P., Pottier, C., & Fletcher, R. J. (2021). Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex. Science Advances, 7(19). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf8441