Ban Khu Mueang ancient city

16°01′09″N 101°44′51″E

Ban Khu Mueang ancient city

เมืองโบราณบ้านคูเมือง
Location	Nong Bua Daeng, Chaiyaphum, Thailand
Type	Human settlement
Area	0.27 square kilometres (27 ha)
History
Material	Brick, Laterite, Sandstone, Ceramics
Founded	1st: c. 6th century 2nd: c. 18th century
Abandoned	1st: c. 11th century 2nd: 1827
Periods	Pre-history
Cultures	Dvaravati Rattanakosin
Associated with	Mon people Lao people Thai people
Site notes
Condition	Mostly destroyed
Ownership	Private
Public access	Yes

Mueang Boran Ban Khu Mueang (Thai: เมืองโบราณบ้านคูเมือง) was a small ancient moated settlement located in Khu Mueang subdistrict [th], Nong Bua Daeng, Chaiyaphum, northeastern Thailand.[1]: 154–5 [2][3] It was found around the 6th century during the Dvaravati period.[2]

The city was probably abandoned following the decline of the Dvaravati civilization during the 10th–11th century and was then repopulated in the 18th century by Muen Kuan (หมื่นก๊วน), an aide-de-camp of Phraya Phakdee Chumphon [th] from Vientiane. The city was left abandoned again during the Lao rebellion against Siam in 1827.[2]

Layout and location

The ancient city of Ban Khu Mueang is located 1 kilometer north of Ban Nong Paeng (บ้านหนองแพง) in the Khu Mueang subdistrict [th] of Nong Bua Daeng, Chaiyaphum province, Thailand.[2] It was a rectangular settlement 500–600 meters long on each side surrounded by a layer of an earthen moat. Two streams flow through it, Huai Pong (ห้วยโป่ง) and Huai Mueang (ห้วยเมือง), which both lead to the Chi River 8 kilometers away to the southwest.[2]

According to locals, the city's earthen embankment used to be 3 meters high and the moat 3 meters wide. The city has a single gate on the south.[3]

The site is dated to the Dvaravati period and is related to an old Kaset Sombun (เมืองเก่าเกษตรสมบูรณ์) located 35 kilometers away to the northeast. In addition, there are historic cities dated the same period nearby, such as Mueang Ham Hok and Nakhon Kalong.[1]: 155 [2]

Findings

The site has yet to be officially excavated. Archaeological surveys found fragments of pottery, both smooth and with rope marks, stone shards, cotton spun sieves, and some bone fragments. Villagers also said that when tilling the soil, colored beads, gold or bronze rings, pieces of pottery, and bone fragments were often found.[2]

About 1 kilometer outside the ancient moat to the south, during the construction of Kuru Prachanukun School (โรงเรียนคุรุประชานุกูล) on the former graveyard in 1958, bone fragments, broken pots, and jars were found numerously, but no academic study were performed.[2]

To the north of the site, approximately 400 meters, at the present-day Wat Pa Semaram (วัดป่าเสมาราม), villagers previously called Don Bai Sema (ดอนใบเสมา; lit. 'mound of Bai Sema'), numbers of large red sandstone Bai Sema were discovered.[2]

References

1. Pariwat Chiamchit; Thanik Lertcharnri (12 July 2019). "การตั้งถิ่นฐานสมัยโบราณในพื้นที่ลุ่มแม่น้ำชีตอนบน ก่อนพุทธศตวรรษที่ 19" [Ancient Settlement Pattern in the Upper Chi River Basin Prior to the 14th Century A.D.] (PDF). Silpakorn University (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2025. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
2. Methinee Cha-umphon (27 October 2018). ""บ้านคูเมือง" เมืองโบราณทวารวดีที่ชัยภูมิ" [“Ban Khu Mueang”, an ancient city of Dvaravati in Chaiyaphum]. www.muangboranjournal.com (in Thai). Retrieved 5 January 2025.
3. "ประวัติความเป็นมา" [History]. Khu Mueang Subdistrict Administrative Organization (in Thai). Retrieved 5 January 2025.