Bua City

Terrain

General Condition

Ban Muang Bua Archaeological Site Located at Kaset Wisai District Which is characterized as a plain along the banks of the Mun River and its tributaries, such as the Plubpla River, the Tao River, etc. This area is characterized by a wide plain, clearly known as "Thung Kula Ronghai", the nature of the slope along the drainage line. of the Mun River to the east In the rainy season, there will be a wide area of ​​flooding. The nature of the river will flow around and around the river, some are Kut (Ow-Bolw lake), some are uplands and sand dunes, spreading along Lam Siew Yai, Lam Siew Noi, Lam Tao and Lam Phlapphla. Only 1-2 kilometers wide in the river bank area is the most clay and sandy soil. In addition, the Kaset Wisai area is characterized by sand dunes and undulating (Chakrit Sitthirit 2002 :16)

Location of the ancient community of Ban Muang Bua North, next to Ban Hua Dong Kamphaeng There is a river separating the territory. South, adjacent to Ban Phon Thong, Phon Had and Ban Dong Khrang Noi It is an area of ​​Thung Kula Ronghai with the Tao River flowing through it. The east is surrounded by the Sikha River. (Ancient moat?) West is a plain adjacent to Ban Don Klang and Ban Samran.

Ban Muang Bua archaeological site is characterized by an ancient community that appears around a moat and earth embankment. rather oval shape About 800 x 1,000 meters wide, within a large mound about 7 - 10 meters high, the area surrounding the present mound on the west side. (Area behind the Pathum Ganga Temple) was plowed, graded to be equal. The present ditch is clearly visible in the northeast, north and southeast. The south and north ditches were dredged, so their shape changed from the original. For the north-south-north side, the shape of the embankment ditch is not clearly visible. There is only a swamp which is assumed to be traces of the original ditches and swamps that appeared in the ancient village or community Nowadays, it has various names such as "Leng Seek", an ancient ditch with an earth embankment outside. "Leng Seek" stretches from the north. east and southeast very shallow Full of weeds and lotuses, villagers have used the halibut as a source of water for fishing. and raise animals After Leng Seek, there are Nong Suang and Nong Yang, a similar sized swamp that is an ancient ditch following Leng Siek. The ditch on the west side of the ancient city was unclear. But there are swamps intermittently. which may have been an ancient ditch line, “Nong Bueng Kha” while “Kut Pong” is a swamp on the north side that is currently being excavated. It is an ancient ditch line as well. and extends along with Loeng Seek, besides the ancient ditch line of swamps, there is also "Nong Som Hong" on the west side of the city. is a large ancient swamp It is currently being developed as a small water resource development project. for the public benefit of the Department of Land Development Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. "Nong Sa" is a swamp located in the ancient city on the south side, adjacent to Ku Muang Bua (Krawalai Thongmarongsi et al. 1999 :3; Sukanya Baonerd 2010 :95-96; Supawadee Inthaprasert 2002 :10)

Height above mean sea level

Waterway

Lam Siew, Lam Tao

Geological conditions

Ban Muang Bua Archaeological Site Located on the Sanpatong series (SP) soil, classified in coarse-loamy, mixed, Oxic Paleustults (USDA), formed by sediments from old rivers that have been deposited on the middle terrace. It looks quite smooth to the undulating slope slightly with a slope of 2-4%. This soil is very deep. have good drainage It is expected to have moderate to fast water permeability. There is moderate surface water runoff. The groundwater level is usually more than 2 meters deep in the dry season (Suphawadi Inthaprasert 2002:11).

The base rock is mudstone in the Phu Thok rock category (Kpt) in the Korat group.

Archaeological Era

era/culture

Archaeological age

Scientific age

Types of archaeological sites

archaeological essence

From the excavations of the Fine Arts Department at Ban Muang Bua Archaeological Site (MB'2002:PK.PIT2,3,4) and Ban Phon Thong Archaeological Site (PT'2002 PIT1), charcoal samples were sent for analysis at the Office of Atoms for Peace. of Ban Muang Bua archaeological site, 35 samples and Ban Phon Thong archaeological site, 4 samples. It can be summarized as follows (Sukanya Baonerd 2010 :120)

1 Prehistoric period, about 4,000 - 2,500 years ago

It is a period where many dwellings and evidence related to various types of burial rituals are found. Both the first burials were found lying on their backs stretched out on the ground. with burial in a container Details are as follows:

1. Traditional Laying Burial From excavation, a total of 3 structures were discovered, laying on their back and stretching. Turn your head to the southeast burial at the tip of the foot The hand is placed under the hip. There is a small round bottom pot-shaped earthenware dedication. Decorate with red clay watering and polishing. Placed around the knee about 2-3 leaves, some skeletons found with traces of decorations placed on the left head as well. Presumably used as amulets or accessories?

2. Whole body in clay vessels that is, the body of the deceased is packed into a whole earthenware vessel The bodies of infants, children, adolescents and adults were found to be tied up in a stooped position (except infants) and packed into round earthenware containers with lids, appearing to be placed together in groups and placed singly. All containers are placed vertically. Inside find various dedications such as small round-bottomed pottery containers. Decorate with 1-2 leaves of red clay water, small animal bones such as fish, shells, etc.

The earthen vessel used to contain the corpse with different sizes About 30-100 centimeters in diameter, about 25-80 centimeters in height, the container is black and quite tough. appear both smooth and with decorations such as The rope pattern greets and polishes it. In addition, some clay pots appear to be decorated by bringing clay lines to sculpt into the area near the edge of the mouth as well. for that cover It looks like a basin-shaped pottery. Diameter about 35-110 centimeters, height about 20-60 centimeters.

3. Collecting bones into containers It is the second burial ritual, meaning when a person has died. The body will be buried for a while to wait for disintegration. The bones are then collected and placed in a container. Which usually choose to collect only the skull, arms and legs. In addition, the appearance of dedication, which is similar to the first two types, is a small round-bottomed pot-shaped container. Decorate with red clay watering and polishing. (burial container no. 109) (Sukanya Baonerd 2010 :138)

In addition, in the common clay layer, ear plugs, terrazzo axes and bone fishing hooks appear.

2 Late prehistoric times It reached a historic juncture, about 2,500 - 1,000 years ago.

The first burial still has an early sequel. Later, in the middle and late periods of this period, burial in clay vessels was popular. This was the second burial, which emptied the first burial in an earthenware vessel. It is also found dense and diverse in details and forms of rituals and is popular outside the boundaries of Thung Kula Ronghai as well. During this period appeared ancient communities with ditches and ditches. and where there were not many ditches and embankments Some sources may only be used as burial grounds. Started to find rock salt farming and iron smelting. In the late period of this period, the popularity of burial in earthenware has continued and has begun to be influenced by outside. That is, the surrounding ancient communities have begun to accept religion in Dvaravati and Jane culture. per Around the 12th-14th Buddhist century, such as the ancient city of Fa Daet Song Yang The ancient city of Champasri, etc.

This second cultural layer can be divided into 3 sub-stages as follows:

Phase 1 The first burial in an earthenware vessel was exhausted. However, supine burial or traditional floor lying was still present at an early stage:three scaffolds were found, all of which were adults. Turn your head to the east and west. The bodies were tied around the ankles, knees, and the hands were brought together around the abdomen. A small round bottomed pot-shaped earthenware was dedicated. decorated with color It is commonly placed on the side of the head. (Both left and right sides were found). Burial #7 is also found overlapping children's corpses below).

The second burial also appeared, both in a clay vessel and one in which the bones were piled together on the ground. The containers used to hold the corpses were placed vertically. The shapes of funeral containers are various, such as round-bottomed, long-necked, oval-shaped, round-bottomed, cylindrical, pointed-bottom, with a diameter of 50-60 centimeters, about 80-90 centimeters in height. The clay is quite thick. Decorated with a plaque-like pattern on the shoulder of the vessel Some leaves appear to penetrate the bottom of the pottery as well. But the same thing is that the lid of the funeral container looks like a tub-shaped container. The size is 15-80 centimeters in diameter, about 10-30 centimeters in height, decorated with a strand of rope near the edge of the mouth. For the dedication container is still a small round bottom pot. Decorated with colored writing with horizontal lines separated by triangles.

Phase 2 Only the second burial was found in an earthenware vessel. Burial of corpse containers appeared in both vertical and horizontal burial. Burial containers are large and placed horizontally to be buried together in groups consisting of 2 sets of burial containers, each consisting of Containers and lids Including other containers such as dedication containers (found to be placed both outside and inside the funeral containers), cistern-shaped terracotta containers to cover the head and end of the burial container horizontally. including bringing broken pieces of pottery that are broken to mask and support the outside as well The human bones found showed signs of calcination.

For the dedication is still a small round-bottomed earthenware vessel. But the style of decoration is different from the early days, which is smooth surface and rather thick red clay coating. In addition, jewelry such as cylindrical clay bracelets can also be found.

Phase 3 A second burial was found by placing human bones in an earthenware vessel. But there are differences in the shape of the funeral container and the dedication container. And began to emerge a new form of pottery, that is, a cylindrical pottery shaped like an urn.

The nature of the embedding is still horizontal embedding and preferring to be buried together in large groups. Each group consists of 3-5 containers placed next to each other to form a vine. There is a lid as a tray-shaped container. by covering the mouth and bottom of the corpse container There is also a large piece of earthenware fragments. Come to mask and support the seam of each container as well. In each group, attention was given to the pottery in the center. Surrounded by small burial vessels, consistent with the information from the excavation of antiques in 1998. In addition, special earthenware vessels were found, namely, two long-bottomed cylindrical vessels facing the mouth. together It looks like a capsule as well.

for objects of dedication A small round-bottomed pot-shaped earthenware was still found. The neck of the vessel is tall and wavy like a master, a dimpled bottom, a pottery cup, a clay bowl shaped like a hat. Line your lips with red or brown clay. It is a container with white clay. Thin and quite tough and Roi Et style pottery Clay bracelets can also be found around burial vessels, bronze bracelets, beads made of carnelian stone, etc.

From a bone analysis by Prapit Pongmas, a human bone specialist, the Fine Arts Department found that in the 2nd cultural layer of this Bua Ban archaeological site. A cremation was also found. Can be subdivided into 2 types:(Praphit Phongmat 2546)

Type 1 Dry burning Dry cremation can be observed from vertical fractures, that is, the bones of the deceased are kept for some time until dry. Then the skeletons of the deceased were burned. and then packed into a prepared clay container and buried one more time. dry burning Found in culture layer 2, stage 3.

Type 2 Fresh Burn (Fresh cremation) can be observed from the traces of bone fractures horizontally, that is, the body of the deceased is cremated immediately upon death. Then put it in a clay container

3 periods of early history, about 1,000 - 700 years ago

When the community was influenced by Khmer culture in around the 15th-18th Buddhist century, funeral traditions therefore changed to incineration and the relics are placed in small earthenware containers, such as tough jars, and buried near the temples.

Evidence obtained from archaeological excavations at Ban Muang Bua Archaeological Site, Mueang Bua Subdistrict, Kaset Wisai District Roi Et Province (From operations in 1998-1999 and 2002) that were selected to be representatives in the research project on the burial traditions of the Thung Kula Ronghai culture. The details are as follows (Sukanya Baonerd 2010 :133-150)