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El Gibbon · 11-04-2008, 01:28 PM

In regard to Ban Chiang artifacts:

I am not positive but do think this is the only excavation of any scale in the immediate area. I'm not a professional but have checked a couple of books and don't find any others specifically in Ban Chiang.

I photographed about 60 % of the pit and would estimate that the total volume excavated to be approximately 80 t0 100 cubic meters. Now considering that it was not all solidly packed with relics I'm not so sure that "thousands" or "0000s" of relics have been illegally taken out of the country.

It is my personal opinion that a great percentage of these are fakes. TIT you know!

A lot of museums may be on the brink of serious damage to their reputation if it all comes out that a large portion of "Ban Chiang" pottery is faked.

Ban Chiang is considered a major civilization and did spread beyond that specific site. It probably encompassed several hundred square miles. There are other sites in the region but none classified as Ban Chiang. I would imagine that pottery and tools were pretty similar across the region.

As Ban Chiang was/is the recognized center it would seem that any pottery similar to that discovered would be labeled as Ban Chiang for monetary purposes. Who would by pottery from Somchai's backyard dig???????

You can actually buy very nice re-creations across the street from the museum. The pottery/soil mixture is unique to the area apparently. Not knowing much about pottery I can't say whether its true or not.

And yes bronze was used extensively there, somewhere in the book mentioned above ,they talk about the 'mines' etc. and the methods of making the 'tools'.

Not sure about the writer's assertion in the article above about the dates being revised, I have not seen anything on that. The book did mention that the dating process was done by carbon dating and the relevant time period was 4 - 6 thousand years BC.

E. G.

11-04-2008, 01:28 PM	#9 (permalink)
El Gibbon Thailand Expat Last Online: 07-11-2009 06:01 AM Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Samut Phrakon Posts: 1,722	In regard to Ban Chiang artifacts: I am not positive but do think this is the only excavation of any scale in the immediate area. I'm not a professional but have checked a couple of books and don't find any others specifically in Ban Chiang. I photographed about 60 % of the pit and would estimate that the total volume excavated to be approximately 80 t0 100 cubic meters. Now considering that it was not all solidly packed with relics I'm not so sure that "thousands" or "0000s" of relics have been illegally taken out of the country. It is my personal opinion that a great percentage of these are fakes. TIT you know! A lot of museums may be on the brink of serious damage to their reputation if it all comes out that a large portion of "Ban Chiang" pottery is faked. Ban Chiang is considered a major civilization and did spread beyond that specific site. It probably encompassed several hundred square miles. There are other sites in the region but none classified as Ban Chiang. I would imagine that pottery and tools were pretty similar across the region. As Ban Chiang was/is the recognized center it would seem that any pottery similar to that discovered would be labeled as Ban Chiang for monetary purposes. Who would by pottery from Somchai's backyard dig??????? You can actually buy very nice re-creations across the street from the museum. The pottery/soil mixture is unique to the area apparently. Not knowing much about pottery I can't say whether its true or not. And yes bronze was used extensively there, somewhere in the book mentioned above ,they talk about the 'mines' etc. and the methods of making the 'tools'. Not sure about the writer's assertion in the article above about the dates being revised, I have not seen anything on that. The book did mention that the dating process was done by carbon dating and the relevant time period was 4 - 6 thousand years BC. E. G. __________________ "If you can't stand the answer -- Don't ask the question!" To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.