Ban Chiang

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Ban Chiang Archaeological Site


State Party = THA
Type = Cultural
Criteria = iii
ID = 575
Region = Asia-Pacific
Year = 1992
Session = 16th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/575

Ban Chiang ( _th. ) is an archeological site located in Nong Han district, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. It has been on the UNESCO world heritage list since 1992.Discovered in 1957, the site attracted enormous publicity due to its attractive red painted pottery. During the first formal scientific excavation in 1967, several skeletons, together with bronze grave gifts, were unearthed. Rice fragments have also been found, leading to the belief that the Bronze Age settlers were probably farmers. The site's oldest graves do not include bronze artifacts and are therefore from a Neolithic culture; the most recent graves date to the Iron Age.

The first datings of the artifacts using the thermoluminescence technique resulted in a range from 4420 BCE-3400 BCE, which would have made the site the earliest Bronze Age culture in the world. However, with the 1974/75 excavation, sufficient material became available for radiocarbon dating, which resulted in more recent dates--the earliest grave was about 2100 BCE, the latest about CE 200. Bronze making began circa 2000 BCE, as evidenced by crucibles and bronze fragments. Bronze objects include bracelets, rings, anklets, wires and rods, spearheads, axes and adzes, hooks, blades, and little bells.

The site again made headlines in January 2008 when thousands of artifacts from the Ban Chiang cultural tradition and other prehistoric traditions of Thailand were found to illegally be in several California museums and other locations. The plot involved smuggling the items to the country and the donating them to the museums in order to claim large tax write offs. There were said to be more items in the museums than at the site itself. This was brought to light during high profile raids conducted by the police after a National Park Service agent had posed under cover as a private collector. If the US government wins its case, which is likely to take several years of litigation, the artifacts are to be returned to Thailand. [1]

ources

*Higham, Charles, "Prehistoric Thailand", ISBN 974-8225-30-5, pp 84-88
* [http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/research/Exp_Rese_Disc/Asia/banchiang/banchiang.shtml The Ban Chiang project] at the University of Pennsylvania
* [http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/projects/banchiang/banchiang.htm Ban Chiang gallery] at the University of Hawai'i
* [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/575 UNESCO world heritage listing]
* [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMUGGLED_ART?SITE=AZPHG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-01-25-06-36-15] from the AP Wire

NOTE:The excavation at Ban Chiang in 1974/75 was followed by an article by Chester Gorman and Pisit Charoenwongsa, claiming evidence for the earliest dates in the world for bronze casting and iron working. This led to an at times acrimonious debate, between those who accepted these dates, and those who did not. Subsequent excavations, including that at Ban Non Wat, have now shown that the proposed early dates for Ban Chiang are unacceptable. However, the early claims are still repeated in the secondary literature.

Gorman, C.F. and Charoenwongsa, P. 1976. Ban Chiang: A mosaic of impressions from the first two years. Expedition 8(4):14-26.

References