On Friday, May 10, three Thai villagers searching for mushrooms in the Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary discovered a sculpture of a woman carved into stone.
Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation opened an investigation after the discovery prompted debate about the carving's origins online.
The image carved into the stone showed a woman clutching a branch above her head, most likely the mother of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.
Pramul Kongkratok, one of the locals, shared on social media that they went mushroom hunting and found the stone. He claimed he had lived there for so long but just learned they have this.
Kongkratok called it a "blessing."
He contacted the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation to conduct an investigation. The department then talked with art and antiquities authorities to determine the age of the carving.
They measured and took pictures of the carving there. The agency shared on Facebook that although experts could not definitively date it, they concluded it was ancient.
The sculpture was discovered in the Thai province of Buri Ram, which is well-known for its historical landmarks and connections to the Khmer Kingdom that existed in the 6th century C.E.
Due to its connection to history, officials from the Dong Yai Wildlife Sanctuary have requested that the country's Fine Arts Department visit the site and examine the carving style to determine the time frame of its creation.
Silpakorn University art history professor Chedha Tingsanchali claimed that the sculpture at Buri Ram is not as old as people think.
"The sculptor was someone who saw... ancient Indian art and imitated it. The features, such as eyebrows, lips, and other features, are not a match for the [Dvaravati] time. And lastly, Maya Devi holding a brand of a pipal tree was never known to people living in Esaan during Dvaravati before the 16th century," Tingsanchali told The Nation.
