Computer rendering of Angkor era

Illustrations by Tom Chandler/Monash University

An artist's impression of life in Angkor, Cambodia's medieval capital.

Khmer warriors of Angkor's heyday rode elephants into battle, as seen in this computer illustration based on relief sculptures at an Angkor temple.

Although the city thrived for six centuries, Angkor was no stranger to strife.

A Thai royal document, for example, records the invasion and sacking of the city in the mid-1400s. Modern looting still threatens Angkor temples, many of which are beyond the UN World Heritage site boundaries that protect Angkor Wat.

Suburbia in 13th-century century Angkor was a low-density place, with houses perched on mounds to protect the structures from seasonal floods.

Small artificial ponds stored water that could be use to flood rice paddies.

Neighborhood temples, surrounded by miniature moats, echoed the structure of Angkor Wat.

As Angkor's population expanded, it would have needed to clear forest to create more neighborhoods like this one. Archaeologists speculate that resulting floods and erosion ruined the waterworks the city depended on, possibly leading to its collapse.