ALMOST A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, the walled city of Phimai (ancient Vimayapura) (Siribhadra and Moore 1997:232) was a major center of the polity of Angkor, which dominated much of mainland Southeast Asia from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries A.D. The Khmer empire is best known for the vast temple complex of Angkor Wat in the Tonle Sap region of Cambodia, although it also left a rich legacy of similar temples throughout Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand (Aymonier 1901; Briggs 1951; Freeman 1996; Siribhadra and Moore 1997).
An extensive network of' roads and resthouses linked the provincial centers and temples. One such road covered the 225 km from Angkor Wat to the most important Khmer temple in Thailand, the Prasat Hin Phimai (Figs. 1, 2). Construction of the Prasat began during the reign of the Angkorian king Jayavarman VI (A.D. 1080-1107), whose family had ruled for several generations at Mahidharapura, perhaps Phimai itself (Jacques 1996:147; Pichard 1976: 1). The name Mahidharapura has been given to the subsequent dynasty of Khmer kings, which included Suryavarman II (A.D. 1113-1150), responsible for the construction of Angkor Wat, and Jayavarman VII (A.D. 1181-1219), the last great king of Angkor, whose image can still be seen at Phimai today.
[FIGURES 1-2 OMITTED]
Khmer overlords had in fact shown interest in the region since the sixth century A.D. Several inscriptions refer to Citrasena-Mahendravarman's (c. A.D. 550--611) military victories beyond the Dang Raek Range, including one found at Phimai itself (K.1106) (Higham and Thosarat 1998: 194; Jacques 1989: 17; Vickery 1998:75). However, while the consecration of Jayavarman II as monarch in A.D. 802 marked the start of the Angkorian period, it was not until some two centuries later that the region north of the Dang Raek Range was integrated into Angkor. From the reign of Rajendravarman II (A.D. 944--968) some control began to be exerted in the northeast (Siribhadra and Moore 1997:31), but most Khmer temples in Thailand were built after A.D. 1000. Although Jayavarman VII (A.D. 1181-1219) constructed the network of roads, resthouses, and hospitals that linked provincial centers to Angkor, his death saw the empire fragment. Prayers were offered at the Prasat Hin Phimai upon the death of Indravarman III in A.D. 1243 (Briggs 1951:238), but the late thirteenth century effectively saw the end of the Angkorian control in what is now northeast Thailand.
NORTHEAST THAILAND BEFORE ANGKOR
Northeast Thailand in the centuries immediately prior to Angkor has traditionally been described as lacking social complexity and subject to influences from two competing kingdoms--Dvaravati, a Mon-Buddhist culture in central Thailand, and Chenla, a Khmer-Hindu culture in the Kompong Thon region of Cambodia (see, for example, Quaritch Wales 1969). The very nature of the ostensible Dvaravati and Chenla "kingdoms" have more recently been reconsidered (Brown 1996; Diskul 1979; Glover 1980; Jacques 1979; Mudar 1999; Smith 1979; Vickery 1998), and the Mon-Khmer distinction in Northeast Thailand itself seems something of a false one, at least before A.D. 1000 (Keyes 1974; Siribhadra and Moore 1997:25). Archaeological excavations at prehistoric sites such as Noen U-Loke have also shown that independent local communities were increasing in social complexity during the Iron Age (c. 500 B.C.--A.D. 500) (Higham and Thosarat 2000). The volume of prehistoric ceramics and artifacts recovered in earlier excavations at Phimai indicated that it was more than a simple village even in prehistory, perhaps due to its strategic location on the main trade route between the Khorat Plateau and the Chao Phraya Delta (Bronson 1979:327).
The centuries from the end of prehistory to the splendors of Angkor have been described as "the Dark Ages of Isan" (Rogers 1996:51). However, there is evidence that the people of this period shared important new Indian-influenced practices with their neighbors to the west and south, particularly the use of inscriptions and the construction of religious buildings in permanent materials. The inscriptions recording the "exploratory probes" (Vickery 1998:79) of the sixth-century overlords from the south have already been mentioned, but a number of other inscriptions refer to protohistoric kings, several Buddhist, who ruled in the region (Brown 1996; Higham and Thosarat 1998:194-195; Jacques 1989).
A succession of brick pre-Angkorian temple sites has been linked to the political consolidation of the Khmer in Cambodia, Sambor Prei Kuk being the most famous (Benisti 1970; Boisselier 1955, 1966; Jacques 1996; Parmentier 1927; Siribhadra and Moore 1997:26). In contrast, very few Khmer-style temples were built in Thailand before the tenth century (Charernsupkul 1981; Siribhadra and Moore 1997:31). For example, the oldest known Khmer structure in Thailand in good condition is the seventh-century A.D. brick and sandstone Prasat Phum Phon (Parmentier 1927:232; Siribhadra and Moore 1997:85). However, at least some later stone temples were built on the sites of earlier brick structures. For example, a series of brick temples underlie the sandstone temple of the Prasat Phanom Rung, and date back to at least the seventh or eighth centuries (Higham and Thosarat 1998:200). Recent excavations at Prasat Phanom Wan revealed prehistoric remains, including Iron Age burials (Buranrak 2000; Higham and Thosarat 1998, fig. 310; Phongdam 1997). During restoration, the monument was dismantled, and a square 160-cm-thick brick structure filled with soil was found just beneath the central tower. The bricks for this foundation may have been removed from an earlier and adjacent brick structure …
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