Mile long structure found at Angkor-Wat

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Enormous spiral structure found at Angkor Wat - Unexplained Mysteries

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The huge mile-long structure was found alongside eight buried towers at the ancient site in Cambodia.
Originally constructed as a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire over 800 years ago, Angor Wat remains the single largest religious monument in the world.

In its center there lies a 213ft-tall central tower surrounded by four smaller towers - a layout that researchers believe was intended to have astronomical significance.

Now archaeologists working at the site have announced the discovery of a further eight towers as well as a huge mile-long spiral structure that dates back to the temple's original construction.

"This structure, which has dimensions of more than 1,500m × 600m (about 1 mile by 1,970 feet) is the most striking discovery associated with Angkor Wat to date," said Professor Roland Fletcher.

"Its function remains unknown and, as yet, it has no known equivalent in the Angkorian world."

Some researchers have suggested that the spiral may have been used as a garden however this function would have been short-lived as a canal was cut through it only a few decades later.

It is also likely that it would have had some sort of ritualistic or spiritual significance.
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Another mystery uncovered.....
 
Today, the spiral structure is hard to make out on the ground, having been obscured by modern features and vegetation.

The spiral structure is difficult to make out from the ground, and archaeologists found it using LiDAR — a laser-scanning technology that allows scientists to detect structures obscured by vegetation or modern development.

When surveyed on the ground the structure turned out to be made of "archaeologically sterile banks of sand," meaning it contained no artifacts from the past, wrote archaeologists Damian Evans, a researcher with École française d'Extrême-Orient, and Roland Fletcher in an Antiquity article.

Angkor Wat Yields Astounding Buried Towers & Spiral Structure
Sourced from original post at LiveScience