CERAMIC KILN SITES IN THE SONGKHRAM RIVER BASIN
BY WALAILAK SONGSIRI
Introduction:
Walailak Songsiri received her B.A. degree in Archaeology and her Master's degree in Anthropology from Sinlapakorn University, Bangkok. She currently works for the Lek-Prapai Viriyahpant Foundation, a non-profit organization that encourages local communities in Thailand to create museums and document their history.
Contact:
Abstract:
In 1989 the first mention appeared in print of a previously unnoticed historical kiln complex in Northeast Thailand. In 1991–1994 the Archaeology Division of the Fine Arts Department of Thailand surveyed kiln sites and excavated one kiln. The author participated in a research team formed subsequently to study the kilns as part of an environmental impact assessment study of the Songkhram River area. During further surveys, the team identified over ninety kilns in nine clusters distributed along both banks of the Songkhram River, a tributary of the Mekong, over a distance of ninety kilometers. This article introduces the sites and their products as well as their significance and possible relationship to production elsewhere in the region.
This article first appeared in Muang Boran 22 (4) (October–December 1996). It was translated into English for this catalogue by Robert Retka.
