Set in Stone? A Landscape and Material Approach to Provincial Power in the Khmer Empire

The enduring legacy of empires continues to shape today’s geopolitical, economic, and cultural landscapes. Studying empires not only deepens our understanding of persistent structures of power but also expands how we imagine political organization in the present and future. Yet traditional scholarship on past empires often flattens the complexity of imperial authority through three dominant biases: a metrocentric focus that privileges the imperial center, an emphasis on the agendas of central elites, and a heavy reliance on historical texts. This dissertation addresses these limitations by examining how power was expressed and negotiated in provincial contexts through a landscape and material-based analysis of temples within the Khmer Empire. Rather than treating Khmer power as a static or centrally imposed resource, this study conceptualizes it as emerging from the interplay among elite authority, agrarian economies, and religious ideology. Temples served as the primary material expression of this convergence, anchoring power within local landscapes. Utilizing geospatial and material data of 11th to 13th century CE sandstone temples in three water catchments of northwest Cambodia, this research employs a multi-scalar approach to investigate how temple placement and construction intersected with religious and economic sources of power. Spatial patterning, proximity to arable land, and variability in sandstone construction use reveal that local environmental conditions and resource access significantly shaped how imperial authority materialized on the ground. To support this analysis, the study develops two analytical tools: a Land Suitability Model and a Monument Materiality Model. Together, these models provide a flexible methodological framework for investigating how imperial systems operate across varied landscapes, with applicability beyond the Khmer case. The findings demonstrate substantial regional variation in temple placement and construction, reflecting uneven resource distribution, engagement with economic networks, and localized strategies of authority. Rather than a uniformly imposed system, Khmer imperialism operated as a dynamic and heterogeneous “patchwork” shaped by both imperial investment and local agency. Provincial intermediate elites actively adapted their strategies in response to imperial influence, producing diverse material expressions of Khmer authority—even within the empire’s heartland. By shifting the analytical lens from center to province and from text to material culture, this dissertation contributes to broader anthropological debates about empires, power, and the variability of state formation across landscapes.

Author dc:creator

• Kendall B. Hills (24399353)

• Anthropology
• Archaeology

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32993741.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32993741