Category:Nakhon Sawan 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

Nakhon Sawan Province is situated in the centre of Thailand's central plains - just slightly closer to Sukhothai for instance than Bangkok - and roughly equidistant between the western edge of the Khorat Plateau and the mountain ranges to the west that mark today's Thai-Myanmar border. Correspondingly, even Thais aren't always certain quite where to place the province and Nakhon Sawan can either fall into the lower north or upper central regions. The province features extensive tracts of fertile flat, rice-growing land broken up by sometimes spectacular limestone outcrops. (A panhandle area jutting out to the west actually abuts the Myanmar border and features high, forest-covered mountains.)

The fertile plains are responsible for a wide distribution of fortified Dvaravati settlements, many of which date back to prehistoric times and many of which show evidence of continued occupation into the Khmer period. (Muang Boran Chansen being an important early settlement.) With Sukhothai to the north, the important provinces of Phetchabun and Lopburi to the east and valuable rice-growing areas to the south, Nakhon Sawan was undoubtedly a key region during the Khmer administration. Furthermore, the provincial capital is located at the confluence of the Ping and Nan Rivers, which merge to form the Chao Phraya, all three of which must have provided key transportation routes in earlier times.

Nakhon Sawan City itself was also likely to have been an important site during both the Dvaravati and Khmer eras although vestiges are today lost under the urban sprawl of what is one of central Thailand's largest conurbations. A clutch of late-period, 12th-century, sites to the east of the province in Phaisali and Tha Tako districts - including an arogyasala at Khok Tuek - also indicate the presence of a significant Jayavarman VII settlement in that area. (As well as lying close to Muang Boran Si Thep and Lppburi (Lavodayapura, that particular region was also very much the gateway to Nakhon Ratchasima and the provinces of the Khorat Plateau.

Regrettably, for the provincial tourism authority, no significant standing sites remain from the Khmer period although there are certainly sufficient vestiges to confirm that the region was a vital one to the Khmers, up until the early 13th century.