Angkor Thom covers an area of 9 square kilometers. If we compare its area to that of the region of Angkor as a whole, we can see that Angkor Thom makes up really only a very small part of the region. But if we consdider the quantity of buildings and structures found within Angkor Thom. we can see how densely inhabited and significant the area is. This is not strange really since the Kings of Angkor built their courts at Angkor Thom over a long period of time.
The 9 square kilometer area of Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat which is the result of the last large renovations to the site at the end of the 12th century. If we only consider the historical (and not the pre-historical) period, the city of Angkor Thom was already at least four hundred years old by then. This meas that Jayavarman VII implemented his new symbolic plan fo the capital by trying to take into account existing older structures. The removal of older structures in order to fit them to new circumstances, was an ongoing process. Even in earlier times, this was so, and changes made could even include alterations in the natural layout of site. For example, we have recently come to understand that, up to a time which is not yet clearly determined, the O klot flowed across the eastern side of Angkor Thom (at that time there was not yet a wall surrounding the city) and perhaps even passed close to the base of Phnom Bakheng. The Phimeanakas which we had thought was the first temple built on the grounds of the old Palace was really built on the site of a previous wooden structure built during an even earlier time. This is a new finding based on recent excavations. In addition, we can surmise that there were villages and constructions dating from the prehistorical period as well, since we have evidence that the nearby Prasat Baksei Chamkrong (beginning of the 10th century) was built on a prehistoric site dating from the Bronze Age.
If we only consider the infrastructure established by Jayavarman VII, still our knowlede is very incomplete. We know that "Run Tradev"(figure 2), in the southwest corner of the wall around the city, was once used as a drain for water to be expelled to the outside, since today this channel still functions for the same purpose. But what function did an identical channel at the northeast corner of the wall, which today is almost completely blocked, originally have? Was it a channel for bringing water into the city for use? If so, how was the water made to run into the city? Did they use the Beung Thom as a place for allowing water to stand until it was clear before allowing it to run into the surrounding moat? And what about the Trapeang Don Mea, what was its junction? Were there water passages dug in the earth to allow water to flow under the five main roads of Angdor Thom as we have come to believe? All these questions indicate only one small part of the knowledge and understanding which we must still come to in order to comprehend urban planning during and after the rule of Jayavarman VII.
In short, that which we see today is only a partial skeleton or remains of a city which evolved over a long period of time. It's history is still full of conjectures. For example, we imagine that the city first began to develop when Yasovarman established his capital with its center at Phnom Bakheng. Because researchers found an inscription of King Yasovarman in the are of Tep Pranam, They have assumed that the King established a Buddhist ashram there. But this supposition is not at all certain since the inscribed tablet, found at the site, could have been brought from another area even during a later time period. There seems to be a consensus that after the city of Angkor was abandoned during the 14th century, jungle came to cover the entire site of Angkor with the exception of only a few place which wee periodically inhabited. This often passed down belief ought to be examined in more detail than has been previously given to it since at the end of the 16th century, for example, when a group of "foreigners" (at that time, Spanish and Portuguese travelers) arrived at Angkor Thom, they did not describe the city as engulfed by jungle at all. Instead, the local inhabitants pointed our to them the site of the old Royal Palace as well as various other sites in the area. In the 19th century, it was the same also note that it was not a small group of people who could have changed the second terrace of the Baphuon into the form of the Buddha entering nirvana.Nowadays, more and more things are being found in the jungles of Angkor Thom including the foundations of temples which we surmise were mostly built during a later period when Angkor had ceased to be the capital. One fact that we know for sure is that the region of Cambodia as a whole launched into its greatest decline during the 18th century, and it was perhaps in this context that Angkor Thom underwent serious decline as well, We can see by these points that research on the Middle Period needs to be seriously expanded and emphasized.
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