The Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative is an ambitious research program involving researchers from several countries seeking to advance airborne laser scanning, or lidar, as a method for investigating human-environment interactions over the long-term, from prehistory until the present day. The surface of the Earth records traces of past human activity in the form of subtle topographic variation, which can be mapped and decoded to understand the growth and decline of early societies, their cities, and their networks of communication and interaction. In many areas of the world, however, and in particular in tropical regions, vegetation has tended to obscure the remnant traces of the past. In Southeast Asia for example, the great temple complexes of the Khmer such as Angkor are famous for their monumental remains, but remain very poorly understood as places that people actually lived, and tropical forest environments everywhere retain a reputation as marginal, wild, and inhospitable terrain for the development of complex societies. Lidar technology offers a new perspective on the past thanks to its unique ability to ‘see through’ the vegetation that obscures these places. Our objective is to complete the most extensive archaeological lidar survey ever achieved, with a view to revealing the full complexity of early urbanism in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. In particular, we are interested in understanding the adaptive strategies that early societies used to survive the harsh monsoon environment, and whether or not those strategies fostered resilience, or perhaps created systemic vulnerabilities, in the face of long-term environmental change. In looking at questions of urban extensification, infrastructural inertia, environmental degradation and social and environmental change, the CALI project addresses themes and issues that resonate strongly into the contemporary world.
