Category:Chiang Mai Province

Map Keys
	Large Prasats		Arogyasalas
	Large Ruins		Dharmasalas
	Medium Prasats		Ancient Bridges
	Medium Ruins		Ancient Cities
	Medium Tuols		Ancient Kilns
	Small Prasats		Ancient Quarries
	Small Ruins		Ancient Reservoirs
	Small Tuols		Ancient Villages
	Museums		Carvings
	Depositories		Other Structures
	Wats		Prehistoric Sites
	Neak Ta's		Unknown Sites
	Unconfirmed Sites

In our opinion, at no time was Angkorian or pre-Angkorian control exerted this far north and there are no recognised Khmer vestiges in the province. While trade contacts and an undetermined level of political and cultural influence did undoubtedly stretch to these areas, any pre-13th century archaeological sites should be assigned to Mon or associated groups while the earliest Thai (or Tai) (1) sites appear in the far north from the 14th, or at best late 13th-century, era.

Southern approaches to Chiang Mai and the Ping Valley were protected by Haripunchai - modern-day Lamphun - which appears to have been one of the more powerful Dvaravati/Mon (2) city-states at the time. There are records of some military conflict between the Khmer empire and Haripunchai - in the late 12th century as Jayavarman VII exerted control over the Sukhothai region and possibly earlier, during the early 11th-century reign of Suryavarman I. However, Khmer attempts to extend their reach northwards appear to have been unsuccessful.

Any Khmer artefacts found today in Chiang Mai Province are therefore limited to pieces in museums or collections. Our single listing for Chiang Mai, Wat Phra Non Nong Pheung, is a curious one and consists of a substantial-sized depository of Angkorian artefacts housed in a suburban wat. We assume this is a private collection belonging to the abbot or one of his predecessors although we've so far been unsuccessful in contacting the current abbot for further information.) Chiang Mai city possesses a number of historical and cultural museums and there may be additional artefacts we are yet to identify while we wouldn't discount other wats revealing Khmer artefacts.

However, to reiterate the above, any such artefacts will have originated from further south, in Isan or even in Cambodia and none would have been found in situ.

Update:A recent visit to the newly renovated Chiang Mai National Museum revealed an exhibition of Khmer bronzes listed as 'Lopburi Art 11th-13th centuries'. The collection was donated by the Bangkok National Museum and pieces are in fact all in a late 12th-early 13th-century Bayon style.

(1) Tai is generally employed to refer to the wider ethnic/linguistic group which today includes Lao, Shan and the myriad sub-groups such as Black, White and Red Tai along with Tai Lue etc while Thai refers to citizens of modern-day Thailand. During the 13th and 14th-century migrations of ethnic Tai groups from southern China there would of course have been far less distinction between these sub-groups with regional variations in dialect, traditional costumes and cultural aspects developing among relatively isolated groups over subsequent centuries.

(2) Note that the blanket use of the term Dvaravati to describe any early Mon sites in present-day Thailand is an archaeologically contentious one and the political, cultural and geographical framework of Dvaravati is still hotly debated.