Ancient site · Settlement
Ban Chiang
Ban Chiang, in Udon Thani Province, northeast Thailand, became famous after 1966 for its red-painted pottery and its long sequence of burials. Early tests suggested bronze-working here as early as the fourth millennium BCE, which would have been the oldest in the world, but later dating rejected this.
Today one team argues that settlement began around 2000 BCE with bronze soon after, while another, using Bayesian analysis of dates on human bone, puts first settlement around 1500 BCE and bronze around 1000 BCE. The last graves date to about 200 CE. UNESCO listed Ban Chiang in 1992.
- Dates
- c. 2000 or 1500 BCE – c. 200 CE (start date disputed)
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- UNESCO World Heritage
- Yes
- Location
- 17.41° N, 103.24° E
How we know
No writing existed, and archaeologists disagree about when the village began and when bronze appeared, by as much as 1,000 years.
Nearby sites
- Plain of Jars jars placed perhaps c. 1240–660 BCE; burials at Site 1 8th–13th centuries CE
- Đông Sơn c. 1000 BCE – 1st century CE (culture)
- Cổ Loa Citadel c. 4th–2nd century BCE
- Spirit Cave c. 12,000–7,000 radiocarbon years ago (very roughly 10,000–5500 BCE)
- Óc Eo c. 2nd century BCE – 7th century CE
- Beikthano c. 200 BCE – 6th century CE
Related
- Ban Chiang culture archaeological culture
- The world in 2000 BCE: Cities of Bronze chapter