The Ancient City of Bung Khok Chang

The ancient city of Bung Khok Chang is a Dvaravati-period settlement site in Sawang Arom district, Uthai Thani. Its outline survives as concentric circular earthworks — a core about 500 m across ringed by a moat, set inside a wider circle roughly a kilometre wide whose outer moat is now dry. The inner moat measures about 20 m across, and the earthen rampart rises roughly 7 m above the surrounding ground, with gated openings at all four cardinal points. It is one of several early historic sites in the province rather than a major excavated monument.

Today much of the site is reclaimed by forest, as part of the Phai Khiao–Taluk Du Forest Park, and only scattered brick traces of the old structures can be picked out among the trees — some of the excavated bricks measure a hefty 41 x 18 x 9 cm. Past digs also turned up black and brown pottery shards, iron blades and spearheads, and coloured glass beads, now held at a local history museum rather than displayed on site. The most important finds — three inscribed stone slabs carrying 7th–8th-century Sanskrit text in Pallava script, one reading roughly “in the era when wisdom excelled” — aren’t on the site itself but kept at a nearby temple. The dating is read as early Dvaravati with a later Dvaravati or Lopburi-period extension, though the timeline is not firmly settled.

This is a quiet, undeveloped place rather than a laid-out archaeological park. There is some signage but no museum-style interpretation, and the appeal lies in the moated earthworks, the forest setting and the sense of a long-abandoned town rather than standing ruins. It suits visitors with an interest in history who are happy to read the landscape for themselves.

The site is reached by road from Sawang Arom or Uthai Thani town, easiest with your own transport, and is open through the day at no charge. Bring water, sun cover and shoes for rough ground, and consider pairing it with the temple holding the inscribed stones to see them in person. Shade is patchy, so mornings are the most comfortable time to visit.