Event: The Surface Below: 9th-15th Century Angkor and the Khmer World

Register here: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtf-iqrjMiE9GbpWrFQZUs-gaEOVNF2zKG

Few of the world's premodern polities outside of China achieved the scale or density of urbanism
found in the 9th-15th century Angkor empire, which governed a substantial swath of mainland
Southeast Asia. Angkorian rulers built cities, water reservoirs, stone monuments, and roads that
crisscrossed the empire. Carved images glorify their gods, rulers, and ancestors; inscribed stelae
celebrate political accessions and conquests, and narrate religious merits, economic properties,
and status of the populations. Heng will introduce the ancient metropolis of Angkor and its Khmer
world through recent archaeological findings using historical sources, excavation and remotely
sensed ground survey (LIDAR) data. Heng is the 2022-24 postdoctoral scholar at the Cotsen Institute
and the Program for Early Modern Southeast Asia (PEMSEA). His research interests include religious
change, urbanism, political economy, public archaeology, and heritage management. He was a featured
commentator in "Angkor 3D: The Lost Empire of Cambodia," at the California Science Center IMAX
theater.