Were There Any Big Cities in the 13th Century?

Angkor, Cambodia, is known today as a tourist destination thanks to its famous Angkor Wat temple complex, but 800 years ago, it was a place to live, not visit. In fact, as the capital city of the Khmer Empire, Angkor was one of the most populated places on Earth, with estimates of between 700,000 and 900,000 people living there in the 13th century. Angkor was far more populous than any medieval European city and roughly equivalent to the present-day population of Boston, Massachusetts.

The population estimate for Angkor comes from recent research that combined light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and 30 years' worth of excavation data. The modern technology helped determine that the massive city was filled with many structures besides the well-known stone temples.

"I was amazed by the level of chronological and geographic demographic detail we were able to achieve by combining all these different datasets into a cohesive framework,” said researcher Sarah Klassen, an archaeologist at the University of Leiden. Researcher Alison Carter, a University of Oregon archaeologist, said an accurate accounting of the size of Angkor was almost impossible before the availability of modern equipment. "When you are on the ground in the main parts of the city center it is quite forested,” Carter said. "As you walk around you can tell there is something in the landscape around you, but you cannot see anything clearly. LiDAR gave us a beautiful grid of mounds and depressions, which we think were little ponds."

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