Ancient mysteries unearthed: Skeletal remains found under South Thailand sports stadium

Three sets of skeletal remains have been discovered underneath Nakhon Si Thammarat’s central sports stadium, believed to be from an ancient cemetery over a century old. The archaeological find was made during construction work for a drainage pipe behind two football fields.

An evening inspection, following the report of the discovery, was led by Police Captain Thanathorn Panchu, Investigation Officer at the local Nakhon Si Thammarat Police Station, and forensic investigators. The site is located in Tha Wang Subdistrict, Mueang District, behind a pair of football pitches at Nakhon Si Thammarat’s provincial sports centre. The skeletal fragments were found clustered close together throughout the construction work area.

The excavation was to establish a drainage pipe, running from south to north, with the use of a backhoe to dig approximately 1 metre into the ground. At three points along the line of the hole, human bones were unearthed. The fragments, akin to forearm, leg bones, and craniums, were found roughly 20 to 30 metres apart, representing three individual sets of remains. Intriguingly, the unearthed bone structure appears somewhat larger than that of today’s human bones.

Additional smaller bone pieces numbering several dozen were additionally found. The peculiar placement of the remains, resembling a row of graves or ancient mausoleum alignment, led to speculation by officials that these skeletal remains could likely be remnants of long-buried individuals from a bygone era, predating the construction of the central sports stadium at Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The land, previously owned by the Chat Trakankosol family, was generously donated to Nakhon Si Thammarat for the sports ground’s construction several decades ago. The vicinity possibly encompassed either an old graveyard or an ancient mausoleum site, reported Sanook.

Interestingly, a parallel can be drawn with the former site of Sri Thammarat Suksa School, where key historical figures in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s history are known to have been interred within similar mausoleum alignments for over 200 years.

This precedent came to light amidst the recent excavation work conducted as part of the football field improvements within Nakhon Si Thammarat’s central sports stadium. During the construction of a drainage pipe on the western side of the training ground, the mentioned skeletal remains were found within the ancient cement blocks.

This recent incident isn’t isolated, as a similar discovery of a single set of skeletal remains occurred earlier in the same project. With this finding, the total of unearthed remains escalates to four sets. Officials have collected and saved all the bone fragments for examination, in addition to making arrangements for the Department of Fine Arts and Ministry of Culture to verify the truth behind these ancient vestiges.