Ban Chiang Archaeological Site 🇹🇭 Thailand

Ban Chang is an archaeological site located on the Korat plateau of Udon Thani province in northeast Thailand. It was occupied from about 3600 BC down to 200 AD. It was first recognized as an archaeological site in 1960, with preliminary excavations conducted by the Thai Fine Arts Department in 1967 and 1972. Since then, there have been a number of collaborative excavations and other investigations by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Fine Arts Department. Ban Chang Museum houses exclusively the exhibitions on prehistory down to the recent history of northeast Thailand. There's also a permanent exhibition about the history of Ban Chang excavations and the interpretation of the archaeological evidence excavated here. Visiting the museum, therefore, one can obtain a better understanding of the history of culture in northeast Thailand. Ban Chang archaeological site is the most splendid example of the prehistoric period in southeast Asia. It represents an important stage in the cultural, social and technological evolution that flourished over 5,000 years ago. Archaeological work at Ban Chang did not end during the important series of excavations, but expanded its scope of exploration to other sites in the northeast and throughout Thailand. Ban Chang became famous, known in every corner of the world as a prehistoric community, with agriculture, animal domestication, metallurgical expertise and unique painted pottery. Until 1960, southeast Asia during prehistoric times was described by most of the leading archaeologists in the world as a cultural and technological backward area. Major advanced technology, including agricultural metallurgy, were believed to have appeared in this region quite late. Bronze and iron technologies appeared simultaneously in this region not earlier than 500 BC and were considered as the advancements that the local inhabitants obtained from other superior cultures, especially the ones centered in nuclear China. Archaeologists have found that the initial settlers of Ban Chang, which appeared here around the late 4th millennium BC, were already rice agriculturalists. They also had domesticated animals, at least cattle and pig. Later, during the late 3rd millennium BC, these prehistoric sedentary villages gained a new knowledge of bronze metallurgy. Bronze implements such as socket axes and spear points and ornaments, including at least bracelets and anklets, were locally cast here. Since the areas around Ban Chang are devoid of copper and tin, the main ingredients for bronze, it's quite probable that the prehistoric inhabitants of the village were involved in extra-community exchanges. Sometime around the early half of the 1st millennium BC, iron metallurgy appeared here. Undeniably what people, Thai or foreign, recognize as a Ban Chang item is the painted pot of Ban Chang. The wide range of shapes, the painted red designs of puzzling abstract symbols, and the enormous estimated value of these pots make them seem like the only important thing about Ban Chang. Most people know of only the painted pot. The use of bronze in the prehistoric period of the old world has always been equated with the appearance of marked social-political transformations. Ban Chang smiths used this to mould spearheads and bronze axes before beating to increase hardness and to work in details. In the 2,500 years from the beginnings of Ban Chang civilization to the time it declined, its people most likely used containers made from a variety of materials, such as cups made of banana leaf or other leaves, bamboo strips or woven bamboo baskets. The most sophisticated of these was the pottery that involved a complex process which increased along with advancement in technology and usage in each period. Early pottery had simple shapes. Formed by hand, its walls made thick or thin as required by using a flat piece of wood to hit it against a stone. Occasionally the outside surface was polished black. Later Ban Chang potters began to shape the clay on a rotating stand which made the shape more regular and they began painting simple designs on the rim and shoulder of the pots. The painted pots that are famously known around the world are from about 2,000 years ago. What people usually don't know is that no painted pots were ever actually used in cooking. They were made so meticulously in order to be used specially for burials. Buffalo toe bones are found to be different from those of the wild buffalo. This shows that they were domesticated and continually used for hard labour, resulting in changed bone quality. When viewing Ban Chang artefacts in museums, it may be noticed that some painted pots were smashed to tiny pieces. Archaeologists have reconstructed these meticulously like a jigsaw puzzle. Some very large pots often have the identifying label child body container. Some spearheads look like they were bent out of shape. Every pottery doll found appears to be smashed in the head. Painted pots were shaped on a rotating stand then lined up and fired at 800 degrees Celsius. When cooled they were painted with brushes made with animal hair or tree bark that had been beaten so that their ends were soft bristles. It's quite clear from archaeological evidence that prehistoric culture and society at Ban Chang existed continuously for a few thousand years. During the long spanning of time certain technological as well as other aspects of cultural developments had been brought about. The obvious implications of this evidence are that the prehistoric population of Southeast Asia had the ability to either develop or adapt new technologies as early as other cultures and that any indigenous technological and cultural developments could have occurred in every society of any region of the world. Since the discovery of Ban Chang many other sites of the same cultural tradition have been discovered and some of them excavated. Ban Chang however is the hallmark of the culture having the longest sequence and the richest variety of social and cultural material. The knowledge gained from Ban Chang excavations to date have helped to rewrite the pages of Southeast Asian prehistory and has given the area its deserved place in the annals of world prehistory. A number of artifacts excavated at Ban Chang are exotic to the region. These include such status symbols as stone bangles and native metals which enable prehistoric trade and exchange networks to be traced. Later in the site's occupation trade items such as glass and semi-precious stone beads from India were popular. The imported metals were utilised at the site for both jewellery and tools. The site is protected under the Act on Monuments, Ancient Objects, Art Objects and National Museums of 1961. The Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Education is directly responsible for the organisation and management of the site. The National Museum Ban Chang was established in order to conserve and exhibit the artifacts excavated from the site during 1974 to 1975. Many archaeological artifacts are still in situ giving a complete picture of the original culture. The main excavations have taken place on the perimeter of the modern village where a large number of burials from all three periods with rich ceramic and metal grave goods have been revealed and recorded. One of the excavations has been preserved for public viewing with a permanent covered building. There's an excellent site museum in another part of the village. Burial traditions of the prehistoric Ban Chang people which meant putting the entire body in the grave made demographic archaeology easier than in periods where cremation had begun such as Varavati, Sukertai or Ayutthaya. A drawing of a burial ceremony in the Ban Chang was a cultural tradition. Evidence from the skeleton of a large man and items buried with him show that there was a clear direction for burials. It's believed that a shaman performed spirit sending ceremonies to help the dead into the next world. Over 100 burials showed bodies covered or shrouded with cloth and buried with painted pots, some smashed to bits and scattered over the body. The personal belongings of the deceased such as axes, spearheads and bracelets were bent out of shape and necklaces, rings, waist hoops or charms were worn on different parts of the body. Ban Chang people did not yet know Buddhism so their beliefs were in spirits both good and bad that are above nature and in the next world. Evidence of this can be seen in the artifacts found in the burials. Ban Chang is without question the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in southeast Asia. Within its cultural sequence of some four millennia it presents the earliest evidence for true farming in the region and for the manufacture and use of metals. Its long cultural sequence, size and economic status has no parallel in any other contemporary site in the region.