Non Nok Tha is an archaeological site located in northern Thailand near two small streams on the Korat Plateau. The site consists of six acres of mound that rises above the surrounding rice fields by about six feet. The earliest occupation of Non Nok Tha occurs during the same time as the civilizations in Mesopotamia. The people of this area were dark skinned probably related to the Aborigines of Australia. They had perhaps some of the oldest ever known pottery and very early rice agriculture.
The first excavations at Non Nok Tha in 1965 were of burial mounds where human remains were found along with bronze casting molds, tools, weapons, and jewelry. It was thought that metallurgy did not even exist in Thailand but the excavations at Non Nok Tha changed that perception. The inhabitants of Southeast Asia made ample bronze because they were sitting on the richest source of tin in the world. While the people of Non Nok Tha were mixing tin with copper to make bronze, the people of Mesopotamia were mixing copper and arsenic, which sometimes could be hazardous to the health. It is believed that bronze making at Non Nok Tha could precede 3000 BC.
The excavations performed by Wilhelm G. Solheim II in 1966, revealed pottery shards which have an imprint of grains and husks determined to be the rice, Oryza sativa. C-14 and thermo luminescence dating suggest the site had been occupied from at least 3500 BC. This is a thousand years earlier than what was previously thought on the domestication of rice. Cattle remains have been found in the burial mounds also suggesting one of the earliest forms of animal domestication in eastern Asia.
References:
www.vhvietnam.com/vanhoa/drum.htm
www.guidetothailand.com/thailand-history/beginning.htm
Written by Adam Erickson, 2002