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Historic routes to Angkor: development of the Khmer road system (ninth to thirteenth centuries AD) in mainland Southeast Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mitch Hendrickson
Mitch Hendrickson*
Affiliation:
*Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Road systems in the service of empires have long inspired archaeologists and ancient historians alike. Using etymology, textual analysis and archaeology the author deconstructs the road system of the Khmer, empire builders of early historic Cambodia. Far from being the creation of one king, the road system evolved organically to serve expeditions, pilgrimages and embedded exchange routes over several centuries. The paper encourages us to regard road networks as a significant topic, worthy of comparative study on a global scale.

Keywords

CambodiaKhmerroadsroutescommunications
Type
Research articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 324 , June 2010 , pp. 480 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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