Ban Chiang

Introducing Ban Chiang

This town, 50km east of Udon, was once the hub of the ancient Ban Chiang civilisation and archaeological digs here have uncovered a treasure-trove of artefacts dating as far back as 5600 years.

What is now one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia was discovered quite accidentally in 1966. Stephen Young, an anthropology student from Harvard, tripped while walking through the area and found the rim of a buried pot right under his nose. Looking around he noticed many more and speculated that this might be a burial site – he was right. The first serious excavations took place in 1974–75 and they uncovered over a million pottery pieces as well as 126 human skeletons. Researchers later uncovered the earliest evidence of both farming and the manufacture of metal tools in the region.

The Ban Chiang culture, an agricultural society that once thrived in northeastern Thailand, is now famous for its early bronze metallurgy and clay pottery, especially pots and vases with distinctive burnt-ochre swirl designs, most of which were associated with burial sites. Seven layers of civilisation have been excavated; the famous swirl-design pottery comes from the third and fourth layers. The area was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1992.

The excellent Ban Chiang National Museum (0 4220 8340; admission 30B; 8am-5pm) exhibits pottery from all Ban Chiang periods, plus myriad bronze objects recovered from various excavation pits, including spearheads, sickles, axe heads, fish hooks, chisels, ladles, neck rings and bangles. The displays (with English labels) offer excellent insight into the region’s distant past and how its mysteries were unravelled. An original burial ground excavation pit (same hours as the museum, and admission included in the museum ticket) displaying 52 skeletons, in whole or part, and lots of pots is at nearby Wat Pho Si. The museum is currently closed for renovation, but will be open soon after publication.

Rice cultivation remains the town’s primary livelihood, but the site has made souvenir selling a close second. On the way into town you’ll pass many villages specialising in handicrafts, such as pottery, silk weaving, rice baskets and clothes sewn with a distinctive thick, hand-woven cotton fabric; all of these and more can be bought from shops facing the museum. Locals also attempt to sell Ban Chiang artefacts, real and fake, but neither is allowed out of the country, so don’t buy them.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (www.museum.upenn.edu) has a good page on the archaeological discoveries at Ban Chiang on its website. From the home page type Ban Chiang Project into the search engine.

Last updated: Mar 24, 2009