AngkorWat
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Explore the ancient temples of Angkor Wat through Google Street View
After touring the canals of Venice and braving the Polar Bear capital of the world, you can now visit the ancient temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia... virtually, that is. The armchair adventurer's best friend, Google Street View, now touts around 90,000 panoramic images of the vast 12th century Khmer wonder. Google took photos of Angkor Wat's glorious temples, sculptures and wall carvings, using both its Street View cars and its 40-pound backpacks called Trekkers, which Hawaii's local government recently used to capture its beaches on film. To make the experience even fuller, Google's also adding 300 exhibits of various Angkor Wat-related artworks to its virtual museum. Obviously, there's nothing quite like admiring the complex's architecture in person, but hey, this could be good enough for folks who can't pack up and travel the world.
LIDAR reveals ancient city remnants beneath Cambodian jungle
LIDAR scanning has recently become cost-effective enough for archaeologists to use on large historical sites, and they're taking full advantage. A helicopter jaunt last year has revealed a massive urban site below the jungles near Angkor Wat in Cambodia that likely housed thousands of people. New canals, temples and other man-made structures were discovered during a two-day scan, which emitted up to 200,000 laser pulses per second and would have taken years if done by traditional excavation methods. The technique can scope out features as small as a footprint, and is also being used in cities around the Egyptian pyramids and other archaeologically interesting regions -- marking another way that Indy-style archeologists are becoming obsolete.
