News Archaeology

The water system that helped Angkor rise may have also brought its fall

Monsoon floods and decades of drought were too much for the infrastructure to bear

a photo of Angkor Wat temple

WATERED DOWN  Medieval Angkor suffered a big blow when the city’s water system reacted badly to a fluctuating climate, a study suggests. Angkor Wat temple — a popular tourist destination — was once part of Greater Angkor.

Dennis Jarvis/flickr.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

At the medieval city of Angkor, flooding after decades of scant rainfall triggered a devastating breakdown of the largest water system in the preindustrial world, new evidence suggests.