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Ref ID: 27004
Ref Type: Journal Article
Authors: Higham, Charles
Title: From the Iron Age to Angkor: new light on the origins of a state
Date: 2014
Source: Antiquity
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00050717
Abstract: Excavations at four Iron Age moated sites in the Mun Valley in Thailand have identified seminal innovations, defined as emergent properties, that illuminate the origins of the kingdom of Angkor. Combined with recent research at Angkor itself, they present a compelling case for re-examining fundamental cultural changes that took place over a period of little more than four centuries, from AD 400–800. They compare with similarly rapid developments in Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia
fundamental parallels are evident in the role of charismatic agents for change, an ideology conferring god-like status on leaders, a new and highly productive economic base, an expanded interaction sphere for the exchange of prestige goods, and endemic warfare.
Date Created: 9/27/2017
Volume: 88
Number: 341
Page Start: 822
Page End: 835