Past and present at Ban Non Wat, Thailand

"Who owns the past?" This is a question that is posed to discussion groups early in most first year university archaeology classes. It sounds like it should be easily answered but in reality can be very difficult to come to terms with – and can often lead to vigorous debate amongst students! As archaeologists we often feel we have privileged access to the past, however, particularly when you work in someone else’s country, it is often very clear that we are only one group amongst many with a claim on the past. In Northeast Thailand, at the site of Ban Non Wat, these issues are starting to come to the fore in our new research programme. This new programme follows seven seasons of incredibly productive excavations at Ban Non Wat. Beginning in January 2001, this previous work was directed by Professor Charles Higham of the University of Otago in New Zealand, Dr Rachanie Thosarat of the Thai Fine Arts Department and Dr Amphan Kijngam, also of the Thai Fine Arts Department. The Ban Non Wat investigations, in turn, followed a series of earlier excavations at the sites of Ban Lum Khao, Non Muang Kao and Noen U-Loke constituting the 'Origins of Angkor' project (Higham 2002; Higham and Thosarat 2005)