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Ban Kao (, ; lit: 'old village') is a ''
tambon ''Tambon'' (, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Below district (''amphoe'') and province ('' changwat''), they form the third administrative subdivision level. there were 7,255 tambons, not including the 180 ''khwaeng'' of Bangkok, whi ...
'' (sub-district) of Mueang Kanchanaburi District, in
Kanchanaburi Province Kanchanaburi (, ) is the largest of the western Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. The neighboring provinces are (clockwise, from the north) Tak province, Tak, Uthai Thani province, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri province, Sup ...
,
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. In 2017, it had a population of 16,147 people. The ''tambon'' contains 15 villages. This network of villages had its origins in northern China and this is reinforced by pottery and ceramic fragments. The pottery and ceramic fragments found at Ban Kao highlight its archaeological significance in Southeast Asia; some of these fragments are currently being kept at the Ban Kao National Museum.


Geography

Ban Kao Subdistrict is in the
mountainous A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
area of the
Tenasserim Hills The Tenasserim Hills or Tenasserim Range (, ; , , ; ) is the geographical name of a roughly 1,700 km long mountain chain, part of the Indo-Malayan mountain system in Southeast Asia. Despite their relatively scant altitude these mo ...
, close to the border with
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
.
Phu Nam Ron Phu Nam Ron () is a pass across the Tenasserim Hills on the border between Thailand and Myanmar, at an elevation of . The border checkpoint on the Thai side is in Ban Kao Subdistrict, Mueang Kanchanaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province. Border ...
, a transnational cross-border point at the western end of the sub-district, is expected to gain in importance if the planned
Dawei Port Project The Dawei deep-sea port and special economic zone (Dawei SAR), is an infrastructure project in Myanmar (Burma). Construction started, but was suspended in 2013. Plans to resume construction were announced in August 2015. It is in Dawei, the cap ...
goes ahead, along with a highway and a railway line between
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
and that harbor.


History

In the year 1961, Per Søresen, a native of Denmark, led a Thai-Danish excavation team in the Ban Kao archaeological expeditions at a site that was approximately 400m off of the southern banks of the Khwae Noi river. Søresen's excavations has led to the recognition of three different cultural phases at the Ban Kao site. These three phases were an Early Neolithic phase, a Late Neolithic phase, and an Iron Age phase. Numerous
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
archaeological remains have been found in a big mound at Ban Kao. The burial site yielded many human skeletons and artifacts dating between 200 and 1300 BCE. Some of the items are preserved in a small museum in Ban Kao village. Other findings, like those of the Thai-Danish Prehistoric Expedition who excavated Ban Kao from 1960 to 1962, found skeletons with short ovoid skulls and medium and broad faces. Twenty-six skeletons were recovered majority of people lived an estimated age of less than 30 years and only two lived more than 40 years.  Many of these skeletons have similar characteristics of present-day inhabitants of Thailand. Another example of objects found at the Ban Kao site is the remains of a rhinoceros sondaicus and a rhinoceros sumatraensis which are two animals that heavily populated this region, which leads researchers to believe the inhabitants of this site hunted this animal during the Neolithic period. The subdistrict was created effective June 1973 by splitting off 7 administrative villages from the subdistrict Chorakhe Phueak of Mueang Kanchanaburi. The burials found at the Bang Site Settlement of Ban Kao have revealed many animal remains, such as tortoise shells and pig skulls. The use of iron at sites like Ban Kao have been dated from the 1st century BCE onward. This is supported by carbon dating of ceramic and bowl fragments found at the site of Ban Kao and supports the theory of native traditions playing a bigger role in the development of new metals and tools rather than the dominating theory that China had introduced metals like bronze and iron to South East Asian sites like Ban Kao. This is supported by evidence of two iron tools found buried with the forty-five bodies recovered from the Ban Kao site. Early interpretations of this site focused on cultures through a connection with pottery. From evidence recovered in the original excavation of the Ban Kao site, a migration model was hypothesized. The interpretation drawn from the Thai-Danish excavation team notes that the Lung-Shan migration was the most influential out of many cultures that settled the Ban Kao area. This idea was formulated due to similarities between pottery found at Lung-shan sites and at the Ban Kao site.


Camp Ban Khao

Camp Ban Khao was a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
work camp during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
on the
Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
. In January 1943, the first 700 British prisoners arrived, and were joined by 400 Dutch prisoners on 13 March 1943. The conditions in the camp were reasonable, and there was a shop selling
bami Bami may refer to: * Bami, Nepal * alternative spelling of bammy, a flat and round Jamaican bread made of cassava (yuca) that is soaked in milk or water and fried * Bakmi * Bami goreng Mie goreng (; meaning "fried noodles"), also known as ba ...
,
nasi Nasi may refer to: Food Dishes Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian and Malay word for ''cooked rice'', featured in many Southeast Asian dishes *Nasi goreng, a popular rice dish often simply called ''nasi'' *Other Southeast Asian ''nasi'' dishes: ** Nasi ...
and coffee. Until April 1943, there were no deaths reported from the camp. The first Neolithic artefacts were discovered by Hendrik Robert van Heekeren, a Dutch prisoner and amateur archaeologist. Van Heekeren managed to hold on the stones when moved to Japan in June 1944, and hid them underneath a wooden floor. After the
surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was Hirohito surrender broadcast, announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, End of World War II in Asia, ending ...
, he passed them on to an American professor in
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
. The stones are now in the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropologica ...
. In 1960, van Heekeren returned to Thailand as part as of a Danish expedition.


Administration


Central administration

The ''tambon'' is subdivided into 15 administrative villages (''
muban Muban (; , ) is the lowest Administrative divisions of Thailand, administrative sub-division of Thailand. Usually translated as 'village' and sometimes as 'hamlet (place), hamlet', they are a subdivision of a tambon (subdistrict). , there were 74 ...
'').


Local administration

The whole area of the subdistrict is covered by the subdistrict administrative organization (SAO) Ban Kao (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลบ้านเก่า).


References


External links

*
Human remains from archaeological sites in Thailand: legislative and ethical issues (in Thai), ''Muang Boran Journal''
{{List of tambon in Thailand Tambon of Kanchanaburi province Populated places in Kanchanaburi province Myanmar–Thailand border Tenasserim Hills Burma Railway