Prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

Thailand may be traced back as far as 1,000,000 years ago from the

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

and

stone tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

found in northern and western Thailand. At an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

Lampang Lampang, also called Nakhon Lampang ( th, นครลำปาง, ) to differentiate from Lampang province, is the third largest city in northern Thailand and capital of Lampang province and the Mueang Lampang district. Traditional names for L ...

, northern Thailand ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor ...

'' fossils, Lampang Man, dating back 1,000,000 – 500,000 years, have been discovered.

Stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone A ...

s have been widely found in

Kanchanaburi Kanchanaburi ( th, กาญจนบุรี, ) is a town municipality (''thesaban mueang'') in the west of Thailand and part of Kanchanaburi Province. In 2006 it had a population of 31,327. That number was reduced to 25,651 in 2017. The town ...

Ubon Ratchathani Ubon Ratchathani ( th, อุบลราชธานี, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan (with Khorat/Nakhon Ratchasima, Udon Thani, and Khon Kaen), also known as the "big four of Isan." The city is on the Mun River in the sout ...

Nakhon Si Thammarat Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality ( th, เทศบาลนครนครศรีธรรมราช, ; from Pali ''Nagara Sri Dhammaraja'') is a municipality (''thesaban nakhon'') in Southern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Si Thammarat pro ...

, and

Lopburi Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of Lopburi Province in Thailand. It is about northeast of Bangkok. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''thesaban mueang'') covers the whole ''tambon'' Tha Hin and parts of Th ...

. Prehistoric

cave painting In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 ye ...

s have also been found in these regions, dating back 10,000 years.

2,500,000 - 10,000 years ago: Palaeolithic

Early Stone Age

The Lower Palaeolithic is the earliest subdivision of the

Palaeolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

Old Stone Age The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

. It spans the time from around 2.5 million years ago, when the first craft and use of stone tools by

hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...

s appears in the archaeological record, until around 120,000 years ago when important evolutionary and technological changes ushered in the

Middle Palaeolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Pale ...

Early species

The earliest hominids, known as Homo erectus and recognisable as human, appear in the archaeological record between 1,000,000-500,000 years ago. Locally typified by the fossil, Lampang Man. About 1,000,000 years ago, ''Homo erectus'' moved to Asia from Africa, where it had originated. Its use and control of fire was an important tool in its

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...

means of subsistence. ''Homo erectus's '' skull was smaller and thicker than that of modern human beings. It lived in the mouth of caves near streams or other water supplies. Its main natural enemies included the giant

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the cl ...

''Hyaena sinesis'', the

sabre-toothed tiger ''Smilodon'' is a genus of the extinct machairodont subfamily of the felids. It is one of the most famous prehistoric mammals and the best known saber-toothed cat. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related ...

, the

orang-utan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ' ...

, and the

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes u ...

. In 1999, Somsak Pramankit claimed to have found skull fragments of ''Homo erectus'' in Ko Kha, Lampang, though most scholars do not recognize these finds as credible. It was comparable to the skull fossils of Sangiran II Man found in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

, (

Java man Java Man (''Homo erectus erectus'', formerly also ''Anthropopithecus erectus'', ''Pithecanthropus erectus'') is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Dutch East Indies, now part of Indonesia). Estimated to be b ...

), which is 400,000 - 800,000 years old, as well as

Peking Man Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'') is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' which inhabited the Zhoukoudian Cave of northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1921, and the Zhoukoudian Cave has s ...

. Stone artefacts dating to 40,000 years ago have been found at

Tham Lod Rockshelter Tham Lod Rockshelter ( th, เพิงผาถ้ำลอด), first researched by Rasmi Shoocongdej from Silpakorn University, funded by the Thai Research Fund, was a prehistoric cemetery and a workshop located in Northern Thailand known to ha ...

Mae Hong Son Mae Hong Son ( th, แม่ฮ่องสอน, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in north-west Thailand, capital of Mae Hong Son Province. It is in the Shan Hills, near the border with Burma along the banks of the River Pai. As of 2018, the ...

Relation to modern Thai people

Modern Thais are not descendants of Lampang Man. Genetic research supports this assertion. Geneticists have proved that there was no inter-breeding between modern human immigrants to Southeast Asia and ''Homo erectus'', affirming that the Thai descended from Africans in accordance with the

Recent single-origin hypothesis In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominant model of the ...

10,000 - 4,000 years ago: Neolithic

New Stone Age

The

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

or "New" Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology that is traditionally the last part of the Stone Age. The Neolithic era follows the terminal

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

Epipalaeolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are som ...

periods, beginning with the rise of farming, which produced the "

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an inc ...

" and ending when metal tools became widespread in the

Copper Age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', " stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

(

chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "Rock (geology), stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin ''wikt:aeneus, aeneus'' "of copper"), is an list of archaeologi ...

) or

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

or developing directly into the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, depending on geographical region. At the Khao Toh Chong rockshelter in Krabi archaeologists have found evidence of a change in diet leading up to domestication due to changes in sea levels. Recent archaeological excavations suggests that domesticated rice was introduced to central Thailand by immigrating rice farming societies about 4000 B.P.

Domestication

Neolithic culture appeared in many parts of Thailand,

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat o ...

about 9000 BCE. People pioneered wild cereal use, which then evolved into true farming. For peninsular Thailand evidence of rice agriculture exists from 2500 - 2200 B.P. However, the possibility of an early presence of rice agriculture in southern-peninsular Thailand has recently been discussed by scholars Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of crops, both wild and domesticated, which included betel, bean, pea, nut, pepper, cucumber and domesticated cattle and pigs. The establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery.
In Southeast Asia, the independent domestication events led to their own regionally-distinctive Neolithic cultures which arose completely independent of those in other parts of the world.

Neolithic settlements in Thailand

* Spirit Cave Spirit Cave ( th, ถ้ำผีแมน) is an archaeological site in Pang Mapha District,

Mae Hong Son Province Mae Hong Son province ( Burmese: မဲဟောင်ဆောင်; th, แม่ฮ่องสอน, ; Northern Thai: ; Shan: ; formerly called ''Mae Rong Son''), also spelled ''Maehongson'', ''Mae Hong Sorn'' or ''Maehongsorn'', is one o ...

, northwestern Thailand. It was occupied from 9000 to 5500 BCE by

Hoabinhian Hoabinhian is a lithic techno-complex of archaeological sites associated with assemblages in Southeast Asia from late Pleistocene to Holocene, dated to c.10,000–2000 BCE. It is attributed to hunter-gatherer societies of the region and their ...

hunter-gatherers from

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

. The site is at an elevation of 650 m. above sea level on a hillside overlooking the Salween River. * Lang Kamnan Cave Lang Kamnan Cave ( th, ถ้ำแล่งกำนัน) is an archaeological site in Muang District, Kanchanaburi Province, and is on a limestone upland, facing northeast and 110 m above sea level. The cave is about 4 km from the Khwae Noi River. By analysing the faunal remains in the cave, the cave is believed to be one of the many temporary camps of the seasonally mobile hunter-gatherers. It was occupied from Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene. * Wang Bhodi Wang Bhodi ( th, วังโพธิ) is an archaeological site in Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand. Dating from 4500 to 3000 BCE. Since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, many stone tools have been found in the caves and along the rivers in this region. * Ban Chiang Ban Chaing

Ban Chiang Ban Chiang ( th, บ้านเชียง, ) is an archaeological site in Nong Han district, Udon Thani province, Thailand. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. Discovered in 1966, the site first attracted interest due to its ...

( th, บ้านเชียง) is an archaeological site in

Nong Han District Nong Han (, ) is a district (''amphoe'') of Udon Thani province, northeastern Thailand. Geography Neighboring districts are (from the south clockwise) Chai Wan, Ku Kaeo, Prachaksinlapakhom, Mueang Udon Thani, Phibun Rak and Thung Fon of Udon ...

Udon Thani Province Udon Thani province ( th, อุดรธานี, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat'') which lies in upper northeastern Thailand, also called Isan. It is bordered by the provinces of Nong Khai to the north, Sakon Nakhon ...

. Dating of the artefacts using the

thermoluminescence Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence that is exhibited by certain crystalline materials, such as some minerals, when previously absorbed energy from electromagnetic radiation or other ionizing radiation is re-emitted as light upon h ...

technique resulted in 4420-3400 BCE dates. The oldest graves found contain no bronze and are therefore from a Neolithic culture, the most recent ones are from the Iron Age.Charles Higham (archaeologist), Higham, Charles, ''Prehistoric Thailand'', , pp.84-88. * Khok Phanom Di Khok Phanom Di is in east Thailand near the flood plain of the Bang Pakong River in Chonburi Province. This site was populated from 2000-1500 BCE. Seven mortuary phases were identified in the excavation, including 154 graves, yielding abundant archaeological remains, such as fish, crab, hearths, post holes, and the burials of adults and infants. By analysing the change in mortuary practices and the isotopes of strontium, carbon, and oxygen found within dental remains, archaeologists have examined the possibility of integration between an inland agriculture with the coastal hunter-gathers of Khok Phanom Di. The isotopic studies showed that in earlier phases, the female inhabitants in the site were immigrants from both inland and coastal areas, while males were raised locally. The localisation of the immigrants occurred during phase 4 and later, with rice growing increased in the same period. * Khao Rakian Khao Rakian is in Rhattaphum District, Songkhla Province, peninsular Thailand. The cave was excavated in 1986 by the Fine Arts Department and revealed Neolithic ceramics, stone tools, and human skeletal remains.

2,500 years ago: Bronze Age

Copper and Bronze Age

The

was a period in civilisation's development when the most advanced

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

ing consisted of techniques for smelting

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals to

cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

. There are claims of an earlier appearance of tin bronze in Thailand in the 5th millennium BCE.

Bronze Age settlements in Thailand

* Ban Chiang In

, bronze artefacts have been discovered dating to 2100 BCE. The earliest grave was about 2100 BCE, the most recent about 200 CE. The evidence of

crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

s and bronze fragments have been found in this area. The bronze objects include ornaments, spearheads, axes and adzes, hooks, blades, and little bells.

1,700 years ago: Iron Age

The

was the stage in the development of people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent. People made tools from bronze before they figured out how to make them from iron because iron's melting point is higher than that of bronze or its components. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in some past societies, often including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, although this was not always the case.

Archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s in Thailand, such as None Nok Tha, Lopburi Artillery centre, Ong Ba Cave and Ban Don Ta Phet show iron implements in the period between 3,400-1,700 years ago

The Iron Age settlements in Thailand

* Non Nok Tha Non Nok Tha ( th, โนนนกทา) is an archaeological site in

Phu Wiang District Phu Wiang (, ) is a district (''amphoe'') in the northwestern part of Khon Kaen province, northeastern Thailand. Geography Neighboring districts are (from the northeast clockwise): Ubolratana, Nong Ruea, Chum Phae, Wiang Kao, Nong Na Kham ...

, Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand, dating from 1420 to 50 BCE. * Lopburi Artillery centre Lopburi Artillery centre ( th, ศูนย์กลางทหารปืนใหญ่) is an archaeological site in Mueang District, Lopburi Province, northeastern Thailand, dating from 1225 to 700 BCE. * Ong Ba Cave Ong Ba Cave ( th, องบะ) is an archaeological site in Sri Sawat District, Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand, dating from 310 to 150 BCE. * Ban Don Ta Phet Ban Don Ta Phet ( th, บ้านดอนตาเพชร) is an archaeological site in Phanom Thuan District, Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand, dating from 24 BCE to 276 CE. Many artefacts found in a 4th-century cemetery provide evidence of trade relations with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Such artefacts include flat hexagonal shaped carnelians, small stone figurines of lions and tigers, and various metallic vessels.Glover, I. C., & Bellina, B. (2011). Ban Don Ta Phet and Khao Sam Kaeo: The Earliest Indian Contacts Re-assessed. Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-cultural Exchange, 2, 17.

References

9. Halcrow, S., Tayles, N., Inglis, R., Higham, C., Carver, M. (2012). Newborn twins from prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia: birth, death and personhood. ''Antiquity'', 86 (333).

External links

This Ancient Land of Dinosaurs, Siamoid, Siamese, and Thais
English and Thai {{Asia topic , Prehistory of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Archaeology of Thailand