Thai archaeologists inspect repatriated Ban Chiang artefacts

Ban Chiang artefacts returned by the Bowers Museum in US earlier this year are now being inspected by the archaeologists of the the Fine Arts Department.

Ancient artefacts back where they belong
Bangkok Post, 26 October 2014

A group of the country’s top archaeologists recently went about the painstaking task of examining more than 500 ancient antiquities returned to Thailand. Some of the pottery was placed on shelves, while small ornamental items were wrapped in transparent plastic with handwritten codes to identify the sources of the items.

Amara Srisuchat, a senior expert in art and antiquities at the Department of Fine Arts, became excited after studying one artefact through a microscope. “Do you see traces of rice shafts in this rusty axe? It shows the agricultural activity in those days,” she said.

“This one is a reproduction,” said Somchai Na Nakhonphanom, a senior adviser on archaeology and museology, while holding up a cotton bud on another. “See, this is genuine ancient pottery. The paint does not come off.”

Full story here.