S11-2

“Non Nang Daet Nuea”: A recent Burial Excavated site of the Iron Age in Northeastern Thailand

The 10th Regional Office of Fine Arts, Thailand

Based on archaeological data 13 burial sites in 9 provinces of northeastern Thailand that have been dated by radiocarbon and thermoluminescence are considered to belong to the Iron Age. In Chaiyaphum Province, only one burial site, Huai Kon Tha, located on the bank of the Chi River had been excavated and dated to 2100 ± 70 BP. This project focusses on the recent investigations at Non Nang Daet Nuea in Nong Bua Daeng District. Non Nang Daet Nuea is considered to be an Iron Age burial site, but there was little archaeological data to support this conclusion, prior to this study. Three trenches (3X7 m, 3X3 m, 4X4 m) were excavated and the site was dated using thermoluminescence. The identified skeletal remains were comparable to those recovered from other sites. This included six individuals interred in a supine extended posture, five of them buried with the head pointing to the West, and one to the North. Grave goods consisted of pottery and an iron blade. One of the burials with head orientated west was interred with a pot below the vertebrae. Significantly, there was a small pot containing a human scapula and ribs, which was excavated into the same layer as two holes (Ø24 cm, 43 cm in dept, Ø28 cm, 26 cm in dept) filled with riverine gravels, under which a supine extended burial was found. The burial dated to 2089 ± 50 BP. A 2nd date was produced from a supine extended skeleton recovered from the highest, and hence latest, layer in the central area of the mound – it returned a date of 1902 ± 67 BP. The excavation results from Non Nang Daet Nuea demonstrate that the cemetery contains primary and secondary burials comparable with those recorded at other sites in northeastern Thailand. It should be noted that Non Nang Daet Nuea lies on a key approach to the prehistoric Iron Age culture in Chaiyaphum Province.  Therefore, it is suggested that further archaeological work be undertaken on the banks of the Chi River to better understand the significance of this archaeological culture.