Ban Chiang Udon Thani
Ban Chiang Archaeological Site · Ban Chiang Prehistoric Settlement
Bronze Age 2000–900 BCE → Iron Age 900 BCE–200 CE·Ban Chiang — Khorat Bronze–Iron paddy culture (UNESCO 575)·🇹🇭 Thailand, Northeast Thailand (Isan), Udon Thani Province, Nong Han District, Ban Chiang village 50 km east of Udon Thani City, Khorat Plateau Sakon Nakhon basin, Thailand
About
About Ban Chiang Udon Thani
Ban Chiang Udon Thani — Iron Age–Bronze Age paddy cemetery-mound (3000 BCE–200 CE, 6 ha) at Ban Chiang 50 km E Udon Thani on Khorat Plateau, UNESCO 575, excavated 1974–75 by C. Gorman–P. Pisitakul (Univ. Pennsylvania). Ban Chiang revealed Red-on-Buff painted burial pottery (unique swirls 300 BCE), bronze socketed adzes (earliest SE Asian bronze 2000 BCE), iron, infant jar burials, and rice chaff revealing Khorat dry-season paddy. Ban Chiang burial mound with 150+ burials in stratified levels: Early 3000 BCE corded ware → Bronze 2000 BCE→ Iron 900 BCE. Revises SE Asian metallurgy before China. Museum at site.
Why it mattersUNESCO 575 Khorat Bronze type-site — earliest SE Asian bronze 2000 BCE before Chinese diffusion
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Independent bronze invention vs Chinese diffused?
Theories
- 01Isan Khorat as SE Asian metallurgy heartland
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3000 BCE Early Period cord-marked foundation; Bronze 2000 BCE
- Period
- Bronze Age 2000–900 BCE → Iron Age 900 BCE–200 CE
- Culture
- Ban Chiang — Khorat Bronze–Iron paddy culture (UNESCO 575)
- Builders
- Khorat paddy farmers and bronze casters of Isan
- Purpose
- Khorat paddy cemetery-mound documenting SE Asian independent Bronze Age before China (2000 BCE)
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.3000 BCE
Early Period corded ware paddy hamlet
c.2000 BCE
Ban Chiang bronze socketed adzes earliest SE Asia
1974–75
Gorman–Pisitakul UNESCO excavations reveal Red-on-Buff
On the ground
Structures & features
17.4060° N · 103.2280° E · 170 m · 2 mapped features
Eastern Burial Mound Painted Pottery Concentration
burial150-burial eastern mound with Red-on-Buff swirls 300 BCE and bronze adzes in situ
17.4070° N · 103.2290° EWestern Paddy Field Bund System
fieldBronze Age paddy bunds and iron plough traces 2 km2 on western Khorat plain
17.4050° N · 103.2270° E
Gallery