Paper short abstract:

Recent investigations in the framework of the JAYA-KOH KER Project have contributed to our understanding of the settlement pattern and landscape aspects of the Koh Ker area. Various surveys carried out by our team have indicated architectural remains which can be interpreted as a palace complex.

Paper long abstract:

The area of the Koh Ker region has been investigated for relatively long time by archaeological and architectural programs. These projects were mainly focusing on the standing monuments of temple sites and more recently on the landscape archaeological features. At the same time, relatively little is known about the residential areas around and between the temple sites. Some of them can be identified as rural settlements (such as the site around the Boh Lohong temple), while in other cases, high status residential sites can be taken into consideration. Intensive field survey, aerial archaeological investigation combined with various survey techniques have revealed architectural, landscape and surface find features not connected to temple sites. The paper will investigate different interpretations of these features and will offer a topographical,, archaeological and functional analysis of different sites in the area. A comparison to other sites will also be presented for interpreting high status residential sites.