Khao Sam Kaeo

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Khao Sam Kaeo

เขาสามแก้ว
Map of the site of Khao Sam Kaeo showing the four hills that make up the site. Red lines denote earthen walls at the site
Location	Mueang Chumphon district, Chumphon, Thailand
Type	Human settlement
Area	0.54 square kilometres (54 ha)
History
Founded	c. 400-100 BCE
Periods	Ancient history
Cultures	Proto-Dvaravati
Associated with	Mon people
Site notes
Excavation dates	2005
Archaeologists	French National Centre for Scientific Research
Condition	Partial restoration
Ownership	Public
Management	Fine Arts Department, no entry fee
Public access	Yes
Architecture
Architectural styles	Proto-Dvaravati

Khao Sam Kaeo (Thai: เขาสามแก้ว) is an archaeological site in Thailand's Chumphon province. It is located in Na Cha-ang subdistrict of Mueang Chumphon district, just north of the town of Chumphon, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, at the Kra Isthmus.^[1] Dated 400–100 BCE,^[2] Khao Sam Kaeo served as an extremely important port, as well as a crossroads for Asian connection and interaction, as it sat between the cultural regions of the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal.^[3] There is evidence that material had come from the South China Sea, the Philippines, and Taiwan—all part of the maritime silk road of the time—proving the important technological and cultural connections between the site and these locations. This not only reveals the fact that people from across Asia ended up in Khao Sam Kaeo, but it also supports the idea that there was a transfer of ideas.^[3] When reviewing the material culture found at Khao Sam Kaeo, the transfer of ideas and trans-Asian connection becomes abundantly clear, especially when looking at ceramics, stone adzes, pendants, and jewelry.^[3] Data and research also point to the idea that foreign craftsmen stayed for long periods of time at Khao Sam Kaeo. Pottery and stone works made in an Indian technical style yet supposedly made locally support this idea.^[3] Collectively, evidence regarding material culture, raw materials, and biological data support the idea that the connections made at Khao Sam Kaeo were more than just trade and diffusion.