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Angkor's Climate Collapse: The Mega-Drought That Killed an Empire
Description
We've talked about sieges, kings, and religious shifts. But what if the real killer was the weather? In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the new science behind Angkor's sudden collapse — the mega-drought and catastrophic floods that crippled the empire's water system in the 14th and 15th centuries. Drawing on tree-ring data, sediment cores from the Tonle Sap, and inscriptions from the Bayon, they trace how the Khmer Empire's intricate baray and canal network, built over centuries by Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII, failed when the monsoon patterns shifted. Lucas explains how the decline of the devaraja cult coincided with the loss of water management authority, and how Ayutthaya's final siege was just the finishing blow to a civilization already starving for water. Join us for a deep look at how climate change — then and now — topples empires.