Archaeology Students Discover 3,000 Year Old Skeleton in Thailand

Archaeology students unearthed an ancient human skeleton thought to be around 3,000 years old at Wat Phu Noi in central Thailand on Thursday.

The archaeology students from Silpakorn University first discovered the skeleton after ancient artifacts were found earlier at the temple’s excavation site by an archaeological team from Italy.

The excavation was jointly conducted by 130 students, teachers and researchers from the university.

The student team had been digging in four pits at the site for 16 days before they stumbled on the skull and arms of the skeleton. The find is expected to reveal a perfectly preserved skeleton estimated to be around 3,000 years old.

Korakot Boonlop, who supervises the team, said the discovery allows for a study of community life in the past. The archaeological site may also be connected to discoveries made at nearby sites.

Phra Sophanaphathanakhun, an abbot of the temple, said the temple will designate the site as a source of information for historical study as well as a tourist site.

Illegal Lottery Fraudsters

Meanwhile, Police in Lopburi arrested two men for their involvement in an illegal lottery fraud operation amounting to Bt400 million ($13.2 million). They were apprehended from a house in Khoksamrong district of Lopburi province where the police also found Bt700,000 in cash and gold jewelry.

Police were acting upon a group complaint from more than 100 lottery ticket sellers in Surin, who claimed two distributors of lottery tickets had taken their money but failed to deliver the tickets for the October 16 and November 1 lottery draws.

The missing tickets are estimated to be worth Bt400 million as sellers had to pay Bt80 for each ticket, buying in batches of 500 tickets. One of the plaintiffs said the distributors delivered on time the first 4-5 lots, but in October went missing and sellers could not get into contact with them, despite having paid for the next lots.

The two suspects fled from Surin and hid into a house in Lopburi where they were apprehended and taken to a Lopburi Police Station for interrogation. During the interrogation, the men confessed to taking the money for the lottery tickets but argued the amount they received from the sellers was less that the alleged Bt400 million.

Police have filed criminal charges against the two scammers and they have been held in custody without bail.