Paper short abstract:

The rescue archaeological excavations of the Siem Reap airport have covered a huge area over the past five years. Steering away from elitists and religious archaeology research, these excavations have dealt with the habitat and its organisation inside a peri-urban area between the 9th and 14th centuries.

Paper long abstract:

In order to allow planned further development of the Siem Reap international airport, rescue excavations have been carried out and established a diagnosis and subsequent digging of large areas inside the airport domain and surrounding areas. All this research has been facilitated thanks to an international partnership between the APSARA National Authority, the Cambodian authority in charge of the conservation of the World Heritage site, the private corporation, Vinci Groupe, and Inrap. Today, a total area of 444,300 m² has been studied, of which 38,100 m² has been extensively researched, including 12,600 metres of archaeological trenches distributed over 24 excavation sites.

The archaeological research focused on largely unstudied temples, isolated habitats, ponds and agrarian structures dating from the 9th until the 14th century, including famous complexes inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Looking back at the past five years of research, this presentation strives to take stock of the archaeological activities and in particular the outcomes on habitat and related issues such as form, organisation, domestic and handicraft activities, materials, etc.

These thorough excavations of just some of the habitats have opened up new perspectives, useful for the understanding of the society that lived on the margin of the Angkorian megalopolis.