>>4465698The Khmer Empire fell, but not in a total and complete manner such as occurred during the Bronze Age collapse. Reasons for the weakening of Khmer civilization have been thought by modern historians to be primarily infighting that created an inability to deal with natural disasters and the Black Plague. Poorly thought out alterations to tech and construction projects also contributed, and there are records indicating that the Cambodian military may have become enfeebled (the current mainstream reason for this is a drought/lack of food). Finally, termination of the civilization occurred due to foreign conquest by Thai and Burmese invaders.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Empire#Decline>http://archive.is/9iVkj#selection-3319.0-3333.1>http://archive.is/9iVkj#selection-3475.0-3585.141However, all of these explanations do not totally explain the collapse, in fact it is agreed that there is yet to be a defensible and conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events which manifested the decline of the Khmer Empire which can be agreed upon conclusively by the scientific community. Wang Shi-zhen (王世貞), a Chinese scholar from the 16th Century went so far as to insinuate that there was an official cover up of the reason for Angkor’s decline, writing: "The official historians are unrestrained and are skillful at concealing the truth; but the memorials and statutes they record and the documents they copy cannot be discarded."
The Khmer Empire’s collapse and brought on a 300 year long Dark Age in Cambodia. There is evidence that squatters in the temples of abandoned cities were practicing cannibalism during this time.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_ages_of_Cambodia>http://archive.is/8Lc3l>http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/14/what-the-collapse-of-ancient-capitals-can-teach-us-about-the-cities-of-today>http://archive.is/sizwg#selection-2110.0-2117.23 