NATASUK ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

Abstract

The Natasuk archaeological site, also known as Nongkok, is located in village no.6 Ban Klong Nam Sai, Klong Nam Sai sub-district, Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province.

According to recent exploration, traces of significant archaeological evidence were found in the surface layer, which later resulted in the systematic excavation in 2010 as a part of the research of the Cultural development of the Khmer communities surrounding Prasat Khao Noi, Aranyaprathet district, Sa Kaeo province.

Though the cultural layer found in this study is un-coeval with Prasat Khao Noi and Khao Noi inscriptions which were found approximately two kilometres away from the site and whose age can be traced back to around the twelfth Buddhist era, the excavated evidence show that the communities of the site started using the land during the fifth Buddhist era, which is the first phase of the land use, to sixteenth to eighteenth Buddhist era, the second phase, before leaving. Therefore it can be assumed that there might have been communities using the site of Natasuk after the construction of Prasat Khao Noi.