Ban Chiang is an archeological site in Nong Han District, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. It has been on the UNESCO world heritage list since 1992. Discovered in 1966, the site attracted enormous publicity due to its attractive red painted pottery.
Elisabeth Lyons, an art historian on the staff of the Ford Foundation, sent sherds from Ban Chiang to the University of Pennsylvania for dating
The site itself was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992 under criteria iii, which describes a site that "bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or has disappeared.