| Abstract: |
This paper examines the function of the Jayavarman VII era resthouse temples found along the Northwest and East roads from Angkor. Over the past century, academic publications have used numerous terms for these buildings implying that they played a religious or pragmatic purpose within the Angkorian transport system. The Angkorian Dharmasala Project represents the first direct archaeological investigation of these buildings, properly referred to as fire shrines, within their surrounding landscape. Through a combination of excavation and survey it is demonstrated that the fire shrines are not isolated religious edifices. Instead the fire shrine represents the best preserved component of a larger community structure, which can include subsurface settlement activity, walled complexes, reservoirs, and ceramic kilns. These results greatly expand our understanding of the dual role of fire shrines within the territorial control mechanisms of the Khmer Empire and, more broadly, provide impetus for conducting similar archaeological research for perishable or less-visible remains around Angkorian period temples.
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