Ancient temple center of urban area

WASHINGTON – The famed Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia turns out to be the center of a much bigger community than had been known.

A new study led by Damian Evans of the University of Sydney, Australia, reports that the Angkor urban area extended to nearly 390 square miles.

The researchers mapped the area, long obscured by jungle, and discovered a complex irrigation system including 1,000 ponds.

The researchers also found 74 long-lost temples, they report in this week’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.