82 Method), whereby rainwater stored in the rainy season was drained into large paddy fields. At these five major archaeological sites, Barays (artificial reservoirs) were at all times available. On inter-linking the ruins of the Angkor era that are currently in various parts of the country, we realize that they constituted one imperial framework and domain. The embankment highway with stone bridges was constructed in order to hasten troops with war elephants to various regions of the country, while managing large-scale irrigation facilities in each region. I realized these were facilities similar to those that existed in the Roman Empire. The Preah Khan archaeological site of Kompong Svay, which happens to be one of the 5 archaeological sites, is located about 150 kilometers east of Angkor Wat. It is a massive temple and castle town surrounded by walls approximately 4.6 kilometers a side, and is over five times as large as Angkor Wat. At the beginning of the 11th century the native ruler Suryavarman I (1010~1050) made known his plan of ascending the throne, and on attaining victory he occupied it. After that this area developed as a regional hub city. As stated earlier, from an analysis of the inscriptions it is clear that the setting to the progress of the 5 major archaeological sites was to first erect temples on vacant land in the region to attract people and donations, and this was a method of expansion to revitalize the local economy. Kings, local chiefs, leading people and others persisted in donating to the temple for quite a few years, and strove for its endurance. Also, the “embankment causeway” of the pilgrimage to famous temples, linked the entire country with bonds of devotion. By utilizing this road the dynasty kept on erecting temples in various places and expanding the domain, and the road ultimately led to the South China Sea and to the port cities of the Bay of Bengal. The “embankment causeway’ which stretches like the meshes of a net over the dynasty’s territory, utilizes a civil engineering technique referred to as rammed
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