Overview
- Archaeologists working at the Don Yai Thong site in Phetchaburi recovered two small gold rings with human remains in early July during an ongoing excavation.
- One ring bears characters provisionally read as Brahmi script that experts transcribed as “pusarakhitasa,” which they translate as “the one protected by Pushya.”
- Since February the dig has uncovered eight skeletons plus gold and bronze jewellery, pottery, and other high-value grave goods that suggest ceremonial burials for socially prominent people.
- Thai authorities and researchers have planned 3D scanning, radiocarbon dating of charcoal, and archaeometallurgical tests while conservation and public display of the finds are scheduled after the excavation finishes in about a month.
- Scholars say the ring strengthens the case for Iron Age maritime and cultural links between the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and for a merchant connection, but the reading, dating and origins remain provisional until lab analyses are complete.