1200-year-old lost mediaeval city in Cambodia older than Angkor Wat

Archaeologists have discovered a lost mediaeval city that thrived on a mist-shrouded Cambodian mountain 1200 years ago.

The stunning discovery of the city, Mahendraparvata, includes temples hidden by jungle for centuries - temples that archaeologists believe have never been looted, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

An instrument called Lidar strapped to a helicopter which criss-crossed a mountain north of the Angkor Wat complex provided data that matched years of ground research by archaeologists.

The research revealed the city that founded the Angkor Empire in 802AD.

The University of Sydney's archaeology research centre in Cambodia brought the Lidar instrument to Cambodia and played a key role in the discovery that is set to revolutionise archaeology across the world.

Archaeologists and exploration and mapping experts have uncovered more than two dozen previously unrecorded temples and evidence of ancient canals, dykes and roads using satellite navigation co-ordinates gathered from the instrument's data.

Mahendraparvata existed 350 years before Angkor Wat, the Hindu temple that has captivated interest across the world and is visited by more than 2 million people each year.

The discovery is set to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the US.