British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
ALBERT RECKITT ARCHAEOLOGICAL LECTURE
The Origins of the Civilization of Angkor
Professor Charles Higham FBA, University of Otago, New Zealand
21 May 2002
Angkor was one of the world's major pre-industrial civilizations. Its capital incorporates the largest religious edifice known, Angkor Wat. Officially founded in 802 AD, it was the successor to earlier and smaller states that can be dated back another six centuries. The rulers of Angkor took Sanskrit names, worshipped Indian gods and wrote in a script derived from India. For many years, the origins of this state have been explained through the process of "Indianisation", in which the indigenous inhabitants of Thailand and Cambodia absorbed civilization through contact with Indian merchants and brahmans.
The lecture explores an alternative, that the local prehistoric people were themselves becoming increasingly powerful, and it was they who selectively adopted some Indian traits as they formed the states that led to Angkor. This requires extensive excavations. Professor Higham has undertaken such fieldwork in Thailand and Cambodia, including Angkor itself, and has revealed a rich and vibrant prehistoric culture hitherto hardly known or anticipated.