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286 Chapter 22 Water and Fire — Farming and Ceramics — On Phnom Kulen: Putting People into Angkor Leedom Lefferts and Louise Allison Cort Abstract Discussions of the Angkor area, whether archaeological or ethnographical, often neglect Phnom Kulen, the mountain massif to the north and northeast of the site’s temple center. This paper proposes a rethinking of the significance of this mountain in Angkorian life and ritual. The waters of Phnom Kulen had meaning to the farming populace of the Angkor region (newly understood in broad scale) as they did to the rulers. Confirmation of stoneware ceramic production atop Phnom Kulen raises the question of why ceramics were made there. Together, data on water and ceramics indicate that consideration of Angkor must include Phnom Kulen as an active component. Introduction — Integrating Phnom Kulen into Angkor The recent confirmation of the presence of historical kilns making glazed stoneware ceramics on Phnom Kulen (Darith et al. 2004; Visoth and Sopheara 2002) raises questions about the reasons for that activity as well as about the full range of activities — aside from consecration ceremonies and monument building — that might have taken place on that mountain (Figure 22.1). At the same time, the comprehensive new survey of the territory between Phnom Kulen and the sequence of Angkorian capitals reveals that it was not ‘empty’ but filled by canals and other human structures (including additional clusters of ceramic kilns) indicating intensive use of the land by a broadly dispersed population (Darith et al. 2004; Evans and Fletcher 2003; Fletcher 2003; Fletcher and Pottier 2002; Pottier 1998, 1999; Sambath 2002; Sokhan 2004; Sokrithy 2002). The survey raises important questions about the relationship between the natural mountain and the complex of temple-mountains in Angkor. Drawing upon this new evidence, this paper offers some approaches to the essential task of bringing Phnom Kulen into an enlarged understanding of ‘Angkor’. We propose that expanding our comprehension of the total Angkorian terrain contributes to attaining a better grasp of the sense of that terrain held by Angkorian people — farmers as well as elite. Phnom Kulen and its natural resources — notably water, but also wood, wild fruits and vegetables, medicines, animals, and stone (Boulbet 1974) — were integral to Angkorian life, in agricultural as well as ritual contexts. Integrating Phnom Kulen into Angkor involves bringing Angkorian farmers and their irrigation practices into a narrative that thus far has focused primarily on kingly and elite activities. Our task draws inspiration from the work of Michael Vickery (1998) in analyzing the vernacular Khmer inscriptions. We also draw upon the insightful work of the Greater Angkor Project, directed by Roland Fletcher and associates, and of Christophe Pottier of the EFEO. The recent work on newlyrecognized ceramic production in the immediate Angkor area and beyond, by Ea Darith and colleagues in collaboration with Japanese archaeologists, also provides much food for thought. Finally, we offer a fresh perspective by bringing to bear some evidence from other ‘Hindu’ complexes in South and 22 ISEA.indd 286 6/6/08 10:35:47 AM 287 WATER AND FIRE — FARMING AND CERAMICS — ON PHNOM KULEN: PUTTING PEOPLE INTO ANGKOR Southeast Asia that may allow us to visualize more diversity and depth in human activity in the Angkorian region. Ethnography aids us in this task, especially as we turn to new studies of the Hindu culture of Bali, which suggests models for the integration of the landscape and human behavior centering on cycles of farming and the relationship of irrigation to farming as well as to kingship. This aspect of the paper we call ‘ethno-archaeological’ in the broadest sense of the term. The ethno-archaeological perspective also permits the insertion of dimensions of change into the relationship between highlands and lowlands, farmers and elite, over the considerable length of time Angkor existed as a center. Consideration of the newly emerging evidence for ceramic production in and around Angkor suggests a process whereby farmers’ longstanding relationship to the water power of Phnom Kulen may have been usurped by the Angkorian elite, who manifested an increasing interest in controlling the water issuing from the mountain. Support for such hypotheses may not yet be possible given the limited archaeological reconnaissance of Phnom Kulen. This paper is couched in provisional terms, suggesting avenues of thought to bear in mind as work continues. Evidence Phnom Kulen’s Meteorology We begin with a physical description of Phnom Kulen and the impact of its presence. This elongated free-standing mountain, divided in two by...

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