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Caving - Thailand 

Bor Krai Cave (Mae Hong Son Province)

Caving: Austria, France, Germany, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam

Caves in Thailand:
Bor Krai Cave,  Chiang Dao Cave, Lot Cave, Mae Lana Cave, Muang On Cave











                                                                               
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The Bor Krai cave is one of the finest surviving log coffin sites, with many coffins in excellent condition and a greater range of coffin head styles than any other site. The site is unusual because the 3x3 m entrance is tucked away in the forest rather than high up on a cliff face as is more typical for log coffin sites in Pang Ma Pha. The cave is on two levels separated by a 5 m vertical drop. The upper level consists of a single chamber which is partially day-lit and has only a few coffin fragments in poor condition.

The lower level consists of two chambers which are absolutely dark and tomb-like. The first chamber is dominated by two magnificent coffins complete with lids and still on their supporting columns. The floor is littered with a profusion of broken coffins carved in a wide variety of unique styles, including some with heads carved in the shape of an animal. The inner chamber is long and narrow and packed with coffins on 2 tiers. Some coffins are supported by posts hewn from older coffins. The 2 cm holes near the end of almost all of the coffins are not part of the original design but were made in 2001 by a research team from Mahidol Universiy who were trying to study the prehistorical environment from the tree rings (Sidisunthorn et al., 2006).

References
Sidisunthorn, P., Gardner, S., Smart, D., 2006. Caves of Northern Thailand. Sirivatana Interprint Public Co., Ltd., Thailand.
 
Schuler, U., 2008. Towards regionalisation of soils in Northern Thailand and consequences for mapping approaches and upscaling procedures. Hohenheimer Bodenkundliche Hefte 89: 1-308.




© Ulrich Schuler 2008 -