This term was coined by a French archeologist in Vietnam in the 1920’s and covers a period from around 120,000 – 2000 Be. The earliest Hoabinhian tools in Thailand were found in caves in Mae Hong Son and Kanchanaburi. In the former, the American archeologist Chester Gorman found tools and seeds of various cultivated plants including betel nut, black pepper, bottle gourd and cucumber. These have been dated by carbon-14 tests to as far back as 9700-6000 BC, far earlier than previously suspected. More sophisticated tools like the polished adze and the edge-ground knife appeared in the cave around 6800 BC Pottery has also been found at the same level.
Hoabinhian
(c. 2000 BC) This pottery tripod was found at Ban Kao, in the Kanchanaburi province. It was probably copied from a tin prototype, and is reminiscent of the Chinese bronzes of the Han Dynasty.