Thailand’s Iron Age involved these tree coffins on stilts

Ancient DNA samples have shed light on the funeral customs of Iron Age inhabitants in Thailand, according to a recent study published in Nature Communications.

Called the Log Coffin culture, it prevailed between 2,300 and 1,000 years ago. 

This practice involved burying individuals in large wooden coffins on stilts, with evidence recovered from caves and rock shelters in northwestern Thailand. 

In a recent study, researchers examined DNA from 33 individuals recovered from five separate Log Coffin locations.

The examination found connections among this close-knit group, highlighting the role of genetic relatedness in the funeral ritual.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the Prehistoric Population and Cultural Dynamics in the Highland Pang Mapha Project in Bangkok, Thailand, led the study.