Resilience and Relocation: Unravelling the End of Angkor

Martin Polkinghorne1*, LENG Vitou2, PHON Kaseka3, NHIM Sotheavin4, SUY Pov5, Dan Penny6, TABATA Yukitsugu7, Vito Hernandez1, Cristina Castillo8, Scott Hawken9, MARUI Masako7, Belinda Duke1, and Simon Hoad1

Understanding the resilience of the Angkorian world during the so‑called ‘collapse’ of Angkor remains one of global archaeology’s grand challenges. While research has understandably focused on Angkor itself, understanding the dynamics of its decline requires equal attention to what followed at the first early modern Cambodian capital at Tuol Basan / Srei Santhor. Rather than collapsing, the Angkorian court appears to have moved sideways from Angkor to this region in the heart of Cambodia. A prevalent assumption is that Angkor’s elites departed the city in pursuit of new mercantile opportunities in the south; however, archaeological investigations challenge this narrative. While proxies of trade are abundant at the later capital of Longvek, such evidence is conspicuously absent during the pivotal 14th and 15th centuries. Cambodia had not yet transitioned from an agrarian economy to mercantilism, suggesting that trade alone cannot explain the relocation of the court. New archaeological investigations at Tuol Basan / Srei Santhor seek to understand this transition through survey, geophysical prospection, excavation, and environmental sampling. Recent work undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has documented numerous occupation and religious mounds, hydrological and agricultural features, and ceramic production locations between the Mekong and Tonle Touc Rivers. Excavations and geophysical surveys reveal stratified cultural deposits extending back to the Iron Age, while environmental proxies provide insights into land use, agricultural systems, and long‑term environmental change. Together, these findings suggest that Angkor’s ‘collapse’ was a long‑term socio‑cultural transformation and a geographical shift of agrarian capital accumulation.