Introduction
This book is the second in a series of three comprehensive inventories since the now 100-year old works of Aymonier, Lajonquière, and Seidenfaden and describes some 170 ancient Khmer sites in the upper Mun river-catchment area of north-eastern Thailand covering the provinces of Khorat and Buriram in the first two parts of the book. Location (coordinates), era and orientation are presented together with a short description about the site, related inscriptions, associated water structures such as moats, small ponds (sra), larger basins (baray), nearby rivers, and geographical context. Museums and modern Buddhist temples in the area exhibiting Khmer artifacts are mapped together with quarries, kilns, ancient moated sites and some other ancient trade routes. Part 3 presents the ancient overland route from Angkor to Phimai marked by seventeen fire-shelters ('dharmasala'), mentioned in a 12th century inscription. Also fire-shrines and fire-offerings are described. The appendices describe other nearby ancient routes, consecration deposits, an astronomical event at Banteay Srei (a planetary alignment, when the shrine was consecrated), and ratio / solstitial alignments (as an eventual embedded feature) in some Khmer sanctuaries. The first book, Ancient Khmer Sites in Eastern Thailand, covering 114 ancient Khmer locations in Eastern Thailand was published in 2012. A third book will describe Khmer sites further down the Mun River and the Mekong down to the Khone rapids in southern Laos. Also the sites in the Songkram river of Sakon Nakhon will be included together with a mapping of the Mon settlements in the Chi River water catchments. For transcription of Thai locations the system proposed by the Royal Thai Institute of Thailand has been used with a few exceptions. For the sites in Cambodia the transcription of CISARK has been consulted. The attached CD contains some 7000 photos in 600 x 800 pix format - not to be distributed commercially or for educational purposes without permission from the author; from whom original formats can be acquired. This book can be read in several ways: 1) as an ordinary paperback book, 2) together with a computer, tablet, or other 'smart devices', thus supplementing the reading with photos and maps from the CD, 3) adding the Google Earth option the reader has the opportunity of studying the sites from above or as street-view and eventually plan field visits, and 4) the more adventurous reader can with a GPS device easily find the sites described - and read the book on site.
About The Author
Asger Mollerup was born on the 12th of August 1949 (BE 2492) in Hobro, Denmark. As an architect, he visited Thailand for the first time in 1988 as a part of a group researching slum problems and the impact of tourism on local environments. He returned in 1990, and since then has been working in various fields: Cultural tourism (bringing tourists to experience village life), tourism adviser in Vientiane, farm-manager for a Danish diary project in Isan, and is presently permanent advisor on astronomy in relation to the solar-lunar events at Prasat Phanom Rung for the governor's office in Buriram Province. Since the mid-90es he has been living permanently in the Phu Phan Mountains in Mukdahan Province, NE-Thailand, working on local languages, experimental archeo-astronomy and doing field research on Khmer temples in Thailand and Laos. His Thai-Isan-Lao Phrasebook was printed in 2000 and a book on Phutai language, Phutai for Medicals, (in Thai) was printed in 2013.
About The Book
Ancient Khmer Sites in North-eastern Thailand is the 2nd of three volumes of Ancient Khmer sites outside the present-day Cambodia. It is the first comprehensive inventory of ancient Khmer sites in north-eastern Thailand since the now more than one century-old works of Étienne Aymonier, Étienne Lunet de Lajonquière, and Major Erik Seidenfaden, describing some 170 Khmer sites in the provinces of Khorat and Buriram in the first two parts of the book. The 3rd part describes the ancient road from Angkor to Phimai, which according to an inscription was intended flanked with 17 fire-shelters. Important fire-shrines along the route are described as well. Museums and temples in the area exhibiting Khmer artifacts, quarries, ancient moated sites, and ancient routes are described as well. Location, era, and orientation are presented together with a short description about the site, inscriptions, associated water structures such as moats, small ponds (sra), larger basins (baray), nearby rivers, and geographical context. Consecration deposits, solstitial alignments, and planetary clustering at Prasat Banteay Srei are presented in appendices.
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