SOURCE2 From Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010
Angkor, the capitol of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia, experienced decades-long drought interspersed with intense monsoons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that, in combination with other factors, contributed to its eventual demise. The climatic evidence comes from ... tropical southern Vietnamese tree rings. The Angkor droughts were of a duration and severity that would have impacted the sprawling city’s water supply and agricultural productivity, while high-magnitude monsoon years damaged its water control infrastructure ... Historians and archaeologists have, with a few notable exceptions, only rarely considered the role played by environment and climate in the history of Angkor. However, several studies have now documented the role of regional climate variation in contributing to the eventual demise of other complex agrarian societies. ... The Khmer kingdom at Angkor ... was as a society dependent on the annual monsoon flooding of Cambodia’s lowlands to support a vast and complex agricultural system ... Angkor would have been vulnerable to variability in the strength and intensity of the monsoon at time scales of years to decades. Before you begin Access the Inquiry rubric in the digital documents section of the Resources panel to guide you in completing this task at your level. At the end of the inquiry task you can use this rubric to self-assess. Inquiry steps Step 1: Questioning and researching Write your inquiry question. It could be based on anything like the following: • What is the evidence for a significant role of climate change in the fall of Angkor? • Would climate change have added to the environmental damage from excessive land clearing? • Would such damage have been so bad without the attacks by the Tais from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries? • What views on this issue have been expressed by historians and archaeologists? Research your question. Step 2: Using historical sources Analyse your sources. Step 3: Historical perspectives and interpretations Evaluate the arguments in the sources. Step 4: Communicating What is your answer to your inquiry question? Present your findings in a format of your choosing. Support your answer with examples from your research, analysis and evaluation. Complete your self-assessment using the Inquiry rubric or access the 8.11 exercise set to complete it online.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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