Santa Ana : Archeological Exhibit Set for Bowers Museum
The debut of “Ban Chiang: Archeological Treasures of Prehistoric Thailand” is planned for 7 tonight at Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St.
The exhibit, two years in the making, contains the largest collection of art and artifacts of the Ban Chiang cultural tradition ever presented in one location, with hundreds of items on display.
Until 1966, when the Ban Chiang site in northeastern Thailand was discovered almost by accident, Southeast Asia had been largely dismissed by scholars as an archeological wasteland, with agriculture and metallurgy believed to have been introduced to the area through China or the Near East.
But discoveries made in 1966 and succeeding years have proven otherwise. In addition to hundreds of bronzes, the Bowers exhibit contains more than 60 complete ceramic vessels, stone-crafted items, iron artifacts and jewelry of agate, glass and shell.
The exhibit will run through Sept. 30 and coincides with the arrival in Southern California of another Ban Chiang display from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. That exhibit, “Ban Chiang: Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age,” is set to open at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History in March.
Both exhibits deal with pre-Buddhist periods of cultural development in Thailand, from about 3600 BC to AD 200.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
