That Panom. The sites are grouped close together and a number of the
sema
have the
stupa-kumbha
motif depicted on them (Lorrillard 2008: fig. 6). Therefore, they clearly belong to the same artistic tradition as the
sema
found in areas such as Yasothon in cluster 4 and Loei and Vientiane province further north along the Mekong. On stylistic and typological grounds, they have been dated to the 7th to 10th centuries.Just across the Mekong River, on the Thai side is the town of That Panon, in Nakon Phanom Province, where the
sema
at That Panom town (L56) are now located in the enclosure of That Panom Chedi. On typological grounds, the
sema
from That Panon appear to date to the 7th to 8th centuries, making them contemporaneous with those found in Savannakhet. Cluster 8, with its location on the banks of the Mekong, suggests that it received the
sema
stone tradition by way of this river, which would have been a major source of trade and transportation during the period in question