Thailand - Patani

In the Malay world, the middle of the second millenary is characterized by the emergence of port and merchant cities based on a new political system: the sultanate. It takes place in a context of growing international trade from the Mediterranean Sea to the China Sea and of expansion of islam in the region. Patani, in southern Thailand, is among these centres of new civilization.

This French-Thai program, a joint project of the Office of Archaeology and National Museums (10th region), the University Prince of Songkhla of Pattani and the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient, has two main objects:

  to get a precise idea of the chronology and the structure of the coastal archaeological complex of Kru Se (Kerisik), the ancient capital of the sultanate of Patani.

  to determine its possible connections with other sites in the hinterland, especially to look for an urban settlement anterior to this capital.

The first researches have been conducted in 1997 in the Kru Se complex with a survey of an approximately 40 km2 wide area centered on the moats of the capital. Over 5 000 sherds have been collected. Among them 70% have been identified as imported ceramics, mostly chinese and thai. They seem to show that the importation of ceramics in the Kru Se complex has started by the 15th century.

In 1998, research has been focused on the archaeological complex of Yarang located about 12 km inland from the Kru Se complex. The Yarang complex is known for its 33 mounds, most of them remnants of hindu-buddhist temples usually dated second half of the first millenary. Eight test-pits have been excavated in and near the rectangular enclosure of Ban Brawae. A significant amount of pottery sherds have been collected but no ancient imported ceramics. It is thus impossible to get a direct datation of the occupation and it is doubtful that Ban Brawae was the urban settlement prior to Kru Se.