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The Khao Sai On site is located in the Lopburi Provenience located in central Thailand, archaeological findings at the site indicate metalworking as far back as the 1st millennium B.C.E. Archaeologists began excavating the site in 1988, and excavations of the site have continued over the years, with the last analysis of the site occurring in 2007. The site serves as an important center for researching the early metalworking activities during the last 250 years of the 1st millennium B.C.E.

Excavation
Excavation on the Khao On Site began in 1988 by the Thai Italian Lopburi Regional Archaeological Project (Lo.R.A.P), with the intention of not only looking at the ancient history of the area but also by restoring the items discovered at the site, as well as serving as an area to help preserve and promote local heritage awareness. The area was once subjected to looting, so a key goal of Lo.R.A.P. was transforming the site into a location of education in which the local people of the Lopburi can look to the site, to protect and value the cultural heritage of it.

Burial Practices
When excavating the site in 2006, archaeologists discovered several burial sites located deep in the soil, that demonstrate a shift in burial practices over time in the area. The earliest burial sites discovered include individuals being buried on top of a bed of broken pieces of pottery. The reasons behind why early burials contained remains being buried on pottery is still unknown, but more recent burial practices at the site do not follow the same pattern of breaking pottery in the grave.

Evidence of Metal Working
When digging trenches throughout the site, archaeologists discovered evidence that metal production occurred in the area, as well as evidence of how the ancient people of the Khao  Sai On site manufactured their metal. By examining the layers of soil of the site, archaeologists were able to discover areas of industrial deposit which were used as areas of disposal of metal works. The archaeologists were able to connect the industrial deposit sites to the use of metalworking, because these deposits included rocks containing copper ore, copper fragments, slag, charcoal ,and terracotta works for refining the metal. Furthermore, around the site, located in the higher elevations of the surrounding mountains there is evidence of where the community mined for copper.

Artifacts
Many of the artifacts discovered at the Khao On Site display ways in which people were able to manufacture metal artifacts including: furnace-chimneys for smelting copper and terracotta molds used to mold the copper into tools.

Furnace-Chimneys
Discovered within the industrial deposit is a furnace-chimney made of terracotta which was used by the ancient civilization of Khao Sai On as a way of heating up copper so that it could be molded into tools. The furnace-chimney discovered at the site is the second one found throughout all of South Eastern Asia, and will be important for archeaologists to study how the technology spread.

Terracotta Molds
Also discovered at the site are terracotta casting molds. The terracotta molds discovered at the site were used as a way of taking the smelted down copper and molding it into ingots and tools, demonstrating the importance of metal to the people of the Khao On Site.