Iron exchange networks in the Khmer kingdom between the 9th and the 15th centuries (Angkor, Cambodia). A review of the IRANGKOR project

International audience; The international IRANGKOR project was established in 2014 to investigate the spatial, diachronic and synchronic organization of iron consumption and distribution practices within the Khmer empire throughout the period of Khmer expansion and decline of Angkor in the 15th centuries. It also proposes to highlight the role played by the roadways in facilitating movement, aggregation and distribution of iron resources. The relationships between the sources, production workshops and consumption sites were therefore identified as a whole to shed new light on the organization of the Angkorian economy.To reach these large-scale objectives, this project has developed and applied a new methodology based on a combination of archaeological, technological, chronological (14C dating) and provenance (geochemistry, statistics, model) investigations of different types of iron artefacts (architectural crampons, tools and weapons, armatures) associated with various socio-cultural contexts and with wide temporal and spatial distribution within the Khmer Empire. The project was thus coupled with major methodological advances in both provenance investigation and direct dating of iron by radiocarbon dating based on statistical and experimental interpretations. The project has examined a statistically significant number of architectural supports (300 crampons) recovered from different Angkorian masonry complexes (Royal Palace, Baphuon, Angkor Vat, Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, Preah Khan, Banteay Chhmar, Ta Som, Bayon), and tools and weapons from consumption sites (9th to 12th centuries). The methodology was recently implemented on the iron armatures from the religious statuary and objects made of bronze that were also produced in massive quantities and exhibited today in different museums. This paper will expose the methodology, the main results as well as the research perspectives in other archaeological and geographical contexts.