After a series of archaeological excavations in the 1960s by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,Ban Chiang, a small village in Nong Han district, Udon Thani province, became famous, known in every corner of the world as a prehistoric community with agriculture, animal domestication, metallurgical expertise, and unique painted pottery, the producers of the Ban Chiang Style' cultural tradition that spread throughout the upper northeastern region of Thailand durintg the past 1,500 to 5,000 years.