Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat (; , "Capital Temple") is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest
religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
Miriam Stark
From 2010 to 2014, Stark was involved with the Greater Angkor Project (GAP) Phase III, which was funded by the Discovery Project of the Australian Research Council. This project sought to investigate the habituation patterns of the Angkor civilization, which, as the capital of Khmer founded in the 9th century CE, was one of the world's biggest pre-industrial civilizations. The capital was abandoned around half a millennia ago; the period, rate, and processes of its collapse is largely unknown. Prior research had primarily focused on the inscriptions, monuments, and sculptures of Angkor; however, GAP III was focused more upon the habituation locations and well-known temple enclosures, including research done at Angkor Wat in 2013.