Ancient Kiln

Next to the Phra Prang Monastery is an ancient Noi River Pottery Site, excavated for archaeological study purposes during the years 1988-1989 under the Archaeological Research Section from Division of Archaeology of the Fine Arts Department. On the site are the remains of several large kilns dating back to the Ayutthaya period. It is believed to be the largest earthenware production site of that period. With a shape somewhat resembling a roofed boat, the kilns were made of brick, with ventilation stacks slanting upward. They once produced a wide variety of utensils and building materials, including jars, bowls, mortars, pots, gable tops and floor tiles.  

The Mae Nam Noi ceramic manufacturing cluster is the largest among all ancient ceramic kiln sites in central part of Thailand that flourished during the Ayutthaya Period (14th - 18th century AD). Constructed brick kilns of the cross draft type lined the west bank of the Chao Phraya Noi River in Choeng Klat sub-district. The main ceramic produced for export here, were brown glaze and unglazed stoneware storage jars of various types and sizes. An unique type among them is the ovoid jar with four lugs, called "Hai Si Hu". Other type and sizes of ovoid bottles, wide mouth globular jars, large basins, water bowls, pear-shaped bottles with flared mouth (spirit bottle). water jugs, mortars, stoves, architectural fittings and decorative items, floor tiles, roof tiles, drainage pipes, canon balls, figures of divinity, mythic animals and clay dolls for mystic functions, were produced near the Noi. A large quantity of storage jars of the Noi River kiln site were found at wreck-sites in several parts of the world as well as in almost all the wrecks in the Gulf of Siam, in Malaysian and Indonesian waters. The famous four-lug jars were also found in maritime communities in Africa, at shipwreck sites in Australian water and on-land sites in Japan.

Ayutthaya Historical Research