Climate deterioration and angkor’s demise

Abstract

Reconstruction of the paleoclimate based on analyses of annually laminated sediments in Japan and moat sediments from Angkor Thom in Cambodia indicates that there had been a period of drastic cooling during AD 1430–1500 accompanied by a weakening of monsoon activity. The annual mean temperatures show that—compared to the peak of medieval warm epoch around AD 1150—the mean temperature dropped by nearly 5°C in AD 1430. The climatic cooling brought about the weakening of the summer monsoon, which in turn would have resulted in the delayed arrival of the wet season. This might have had a catastrophic impact on rice cultivation in Cambodia leading to the decline of the Khmer Civilization.