1991 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Excavations of Prehistoric Industrial Sites in the Northeast of Thailand.
| Project/Area Number |
01041073
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for international Scientific Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | Field Research |
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| Research Institution | Kagoshima University |
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Principal Investigator |
NITTA Eiji College of Liberal Arts, Kagoshima University, 教養部, 助教授 (00117532)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
チャリット チャイクンチ コンケン大学, 人文・社会科学部, 講師
PORNCHAI Suchitta Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University, 考古学部, 講師
シーサック ウ゛ァリボート シルパコーン大学, 考古学部, 準教授
NISHITANI Masaru Department of Archaeology, National Museum of Japanese History, 考古研究部, 助手 (50218161)
ONUKI Shizuo Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo, 文学部, 助手 (70169184)
SRISAKRA Vallibhotama Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University
CHALIT Chaikunchit Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University
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| Project Period (FY) |
1989 – 1991
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| Keywords | Northeast of Thailand / Prehistoric Industry / Iron-smelting / Salt-making / Deforestation |
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| Research Abstract |
This project was conducted to prove my hypothesis that the prosperity of the northeast of Thailand had the ecoriomic background of the iron-smelting and salt-making industries.
Non Yang site was excavated in 1989. Four storehouses and a lot of carbonized rice were found in the layer dated at the second century BC. One wooden fence to defend the village and two ditches to construct the fence were excavated and three iron axes were collected near them in the layer dated at the first century BC. In the layer dated after the Christian era. one big moat was exposed, which surrounded the village.
The excavation of iron-smelting site at Ban Dong Phlong in 1990 exposed seventeen iron-smelting and refining furnaces. a garbage dump pit and a worker's hut. Many tuyers and iron slags were collected. Under the iron-smelting layers. seven human skeletons which wore bronze ornaments were found. Tlie iron-smelting factory belongs to the fourth to the second century BC.
About ten phases of salt-making activity from the first to the second century AD. were recognized by the excavation of Non Tung Pie Pone site in 1991. The excavation revealed many water tanks. trough for filteration of saline water and a furnace for boiling the saline water. Many salt-making pots and shields were collected.
Tile technology of prehistoric industries, iron-smelting and salt-making, were exposed in detail for the first time. They were run in a large scale, and the produced iron and salt were exported to other communities in Southeast Asia. The profit from the export of these commodities might be a major economic background of the prosperity of the northeast from the prehistoric to the historic times. This prosperity was accompanied by the deforestation and the destruction of environment in the northeast of Thailand.
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