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In the early Middle Ages, nearly one out of every thousand people in the world lived in Angkor, the sprawling capital of the Khmer Empire in present-day Cambodia. But by the 1500s, Angkor had been mostly abandoned—its temples, citadels, and complex irrigation network left to overgrowth and ruin. Recent studies have blamed a period of unstable climate in which heavy floods followed lengthy droughts, which broke down the infrastructure that moved water around the massive city.
But it turns out Angkor’s waterworks may have been vulnerable to these changes because there was no one left to maintain and repair them. A new study suggests that Khmer rulers, religious officials, and city administrators had been steadily flowing out of Angkor to other cities for at least a century before the end.
They should have given the Sewer Workers Local the raise they were asking for.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Thursday February 28 2019, @07:15PM (1 child)
First generation of rulers decides they're going to build some massive civil works projects to improve their city
Second generation of rulers decides they don't want to be drinking the same water as those dirty peasants, and demands separate infrastructure for the elites like themselves
Third generation of rulers decides it's not worth continuing to throw money into the infrastructure that's already so bad that only those dirty peasants are willing to use it
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday February 28 2019, @10:23PM
First generation of rich tourists revive 'peasant chic' as a style statement.