Ban Chiang is without doubt one of the more important historical sites to be discovered in south-east Asia. This Bronze Age village at the confluence of three small streams was only discovered in 1966, allegedly by an American college student who fell in the road and then saw the ceramics eroding out of the road bed. After investigating under his own initiative he alerted scientists in Bangkok. Excavation of the site began in 1967 by archaeologist Vidya Intakosai along with American archaeologist Chester F. Gorman. Evidence revealed prehistoric occupation of the area dating back as far as 3600BC, up until 200AD. Thermo-luminescence dating showed the pottery chards to be up to 5800 years old. These dates remain controversial as some of the earliest dates were earlier than any other known history in Thailand and are unacceptable to some archaeologists. The discoveries caused many formerly held ideas and theories to be revised. Ban Chiang’s earliest period of settlement has been classified as ‘Neolithic’ which implies that it practised agriculture but did not utilize metal, relying on stone tools instead. Ban Chiang’s Neolithic period offers a unique opportunity for study as it remained the only excavated site in north-east Thailand with a purely agricultural, pre-metal age base layer of exposed strata. The original excavations yielded over one hundred burials including the contents of graves such as pottery bowls and jars, clay rollers, clay animals and ceramic anvils