A huge urban sprawl once surrounded Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple, according to a newly created map. The scale of the settlement makes it more plausible that the inhabitants of Angkor brought on their own society's collapse through environmental degradation.
Angkor Wat was larger than previously thought it seems.
But that reliance on water led to the city's collapse in the 1500s as overpopulation and deforestation filled the canals with sediment, overwhelming the city's ability to maintain the system, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The hydraulic system became "not manageable, no matter how many resources were thrown at it," said archeologist Damian Evans of the University of Sydney in Australia, the lead author of the paper
Beagle wrote:....Angkor Wat was larger than previously thought it seems.....But it could apparently not manage its resources.
Much like what we've learned about Mayan cities.
The Maya are still there but after the collapse they faded into the jungle and the mountains to live a subsistence life much like what they had before the cities arose.
Beagle wrote:....Angkor Wat was larger than previously thought it seems.....But it could apparently not manage its resources.
Much like what we've learned about Mayan cities.
The Maya are still there but after the collapse they faded into the jungle and the mountains to live a subsistence life much like what they had before the cities arose.
I've never gotten very excited by Angkor Wat, but it's getting a lot of press right now. Here's a 6 picture slide show from National Geographic. It was pretty impressive back in the day.
There's a lotta "survivalists" today who look forward to the collapse of the US, as if they will then be able to, as the Maya did, go back into the jungle and live again as hunters, for which their aggressive instincts seem fit.
But there aint no jungle. A lot of them who fantisized about moving to back to become 'mountain men' again, are looking at the video of the forest fires in Western states and trying to rethink the plan.
We see the climate change and environmental degredation that caused so many ancient collapses, but I dont see that that really gives us much of a handle of what we are in for if the power elite looses whatever control they have left.
And so many of these calamaties unfolded so quickly. Chaco Canyon looks like it came down in a single day. the fortification of Mayan villas looks like it mita taken a month or so. Rome wasnt built in a day, and didnt fall in one either. The smart money got out decades before, Rome was just an empty shell.
We study archaeology partly to draw lessons from History. But what history suggested that the USSR could come apart so quickly, yet with so little bloodshed? They've had more murder from the drugwars since.
Nevertheless, if survivalists were to look at the lives of the slaves who fled the collapse of the empire into Germany, taking their Roman tools with, they would be encouraged. Course, the dumbfucks dont know how to use the tools. Unless it has a cartridge clip, they are clueless.
Listening to the evening news seem like being in the Forbidden City with the Mandarins, receiving the reports of the barbarians in the hinterlands, but not really understanding what life there is like outside the beltway.
And even when they get out, they dont havta deal with the shit, so they just dont get it. Like for instance, I've lived in the woods for most of the last 30 years, and have 4 old, possibly repairable, chainsaws, besides the one I currently use. Over the years, I've prolly cut enuf firewood to fill a couple of big rigs.
And I had a kodak moment watching the head monkey at his Crawford ranch. You dont pull a chainsaw back and forth like its a fucking handsaw!
And with "leadership" like that, you havta be worried about the future of what has passed for civilization.
Any god watching me hasta be bored, and needs to get a life.
There's a lotta "survivalists" today who look forward to the collapse of the US, as if they will then be able to, as the Maya did, go back into the jungle and live again as hunters, for which their aggressive instincts seem fit.
But there aint no jungle. A lot of them who fantisized about moving to back to become 'mountain men' again, are looking at the video of the forest fires in Western states and trying to rethink the plan.
We've got our fair share of survivalists in Tennessee DB. I admire the skills of the back-to-landers who live off grid and grow their own food, but the ones who, as you say, are looking forward to the collapse of our current civilization, I regard them as a bunch of head cases.
I've always grown a huge vegetable garden. I actually have a certificate from the University of Tennessee that says I'm a master gardener. The old timers here think that it's good for toilet paper. .
If I could get people to learn one thing, it would be gardening. I'm already starting on my two yr. old grandson. I guess I should add the art of composting to that. It's the only way to really grow food.
<If I could get people to learn one thing, it would be gardening. I'm already starting on my two yr. old grandson. I guess I should add the art of composting to that. It's the only way to really grow food.
If everyone knew that, we could weather anything.>
If people *did* that, they'd have healthier food & saner, smarter kids, & they themselves would not have, among other things, allowed Bush to take over the capital in Texas, much less DC.
But we are where we are, and there are as you say, a lotta "head cases" all around us. That's the real 'security' problem we have. Hopefully, the leadership that takes over the mess produced by the Neocons wont be a meth head like Hitler.
Watching the BBC, PBS, & Friday nite news, and considering the Fed action to lower the cost of money, I can see where the power elites have figured out that driving the middle class into bankruptcy as a byproduct of enriching themselves, was not such a good idea.
Machiavelli would suggest that by the time the power elite figures out a response to the problem, the steps they take to remediate are too little, too late. And as one pundit noted, lowering the cost of money is necissary, but not sufficient. They need a broader vision. I dont see that.
Zimbardo setup hidden video cameras to watch an "abandoned" car. The scavengers showed up in hours, and were not the poor people you'd expect. One the idea of economic collapse reaches the middle class, it'll only take hours for them to start stripping anything within reach.
Another pundit said that markets art not rational, but *irrational*. The Fed will prolly lower interest rates further so that Adjustable Rate Mortgages wont cost more than the already maxed out middle class can afford. Which makes sense, but will also drive down the near term value of the dollar.
The Chinese & Japanese banking systems wont like this, but if they start dumping dollars to cut their losses, its all over. The dollar will be little more than nice lithographs of dead presidents. And the current holder of the office will be lucky if he can make it to his ranch in Paraguay.
The 'survivalists' will be gratified... for a while, How are your turnips doing? I was gratified today to see them up so well. I can see, however, that if I want fall cabbages, I'll havta keep a close eye on them, and may havta go all the way to Sevin dust to get them thru to cooler weather.
The worse the news is, the more I work in the garden.
Any god watching me hasta be bored, and needs to get a life.
Chain saws and idiots DB seem to come in the same package.
I recently saw a fellow with his brand new shiny chain saw start trying to cut a nice round log that wasn't secured in any way and with the log about six inches from the guard. As the chain bit the inevitable happened as the log rolled along the chain towards him, causing him to leap smartly back out of the way.
Whether he learned a lesson or not I don't know, but some people never do.
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
That's bad enuf Digit, but this was on CNN. Not only did the farmhand who gave him the saw not watch him run it a while to know what an ass he looked like doing it this way, but neither did any of the camera crew or the PR flakes pick up on it.
If you know what is going on, you also know you are a part of a tiny minority, in a system where the clueless majority picks the leadership. Your jackass only risked his own life; this jackass risks the lives of others.
Any god watching me hasta be bored, and needs to get a life.
Yesterday DB a 5yr old boy died over here with his head stuck in the electric windows of the family vehicle, a tragedy, the family are distraught.
They are also totally bloody moronic, the boy and his younger sibling were left in the vehicle on their own, with the bloody engine running!
IMO a license to breed and to vote would a great step forward
First people deny a thing, then they belittle it, then they say it was known all along! Von Humboldt
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Yeah, I've seen it, and it's really amazing architecture. Seems to be right out of the Kama Sutra. But I guess it's that period of history that I'm less interested in.
Hard to believe that the inhabitants just abandoned such a beautiful city though. But, that's what all the news is about.
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