(Not) the End of Angkor: Microstratigraphic Approaches to Settlement and Landscape Change in Early Modern Cambodia

Vito C. Hernandez1,2*, SUY Pov3, PHON Kaseka4, Martin Polkinghorne1, and LENG Vitou5

An agreed understanding of Angkor’s decline remains unresolved. Recent research on Cambodia’s post-Angkorian period has challenged earlier narratives of its abrupt collapse in the 15th century, instead highlighting processes of shifting settlement patterns, relocation of political centres, and the transformation of hydraulic systems. Despite these advances, there still exists significant gaps in understanding how these regional transitions were experienced locally. Everyday practices associated with settlement continuity, land use, and environmental management are difficult to identify due to the limited preservation of post-Angkorian architectural remains and coarse resolution of landscape-scale approaches. Here, we present how microstratigraphic and micromorphological analyses can address these limitations by reconstructing hyperlocal environmental and activity histories. Thin-section microstratigraphic analysis generates high-resolution evidence of site formation and human-environment interactions through analysis of depositional sequences associated with cultivation, occupation surfaces, and land use intensification. Micromorphological indicators provide archaeological evidence of food preparation, landscape management, and local environmental change. By integrating this evidence with historical and regional archaeological datasets, our research refines archaeological interpretations of resilience, land-use continuity, and environmental change during the transition from the Angkorian to the Early Modern period.