For centuries historians assumed Angkor was sacked and abandoned in a single catastrophic event — but the truth is far more complex. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine the slow unraveling of the Khmer Empire's great capital: the decades of drought and monsoon flooding documented in tree-ring records, the war with Ayutthaya that drained resources, the shift of trade routes to the coast, and the gradual migration of population south to the Phnom Penh region. They discuss the 15th-century abandonment of Angkor Thom, the role of Theravada Buddhism in reshaping political legitimacy, and the surprising fact that the temple complex was never completely forgotten. Drawing on research from the Greater Angkor Project and the writings of Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan, they explore a collapse that was more exodus than conquest — and what it means for how we think about the end of civilizations.
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