Wat Thammachak Semaram, locally known as Wat Phra Norn ('Temple of the Reclining Buddha'), this temple is significant for housing a 1,300 year old, 13.3m long reclining Buddha carved from sandstone blocks by the Dvaravati. It's the oldest reclining Buddha sculpture in Thailand.
The face is worn considerably and the blocks that make it are askew, but because it's not covered with a layer of stucco it actually looks as old as it is, which makes for a fairly impressive sight.
On display nearby is a stone Buddhist Wheel of Law that is thought to predate the Buddha image.
There is also a small museum with a display of artifacts that were uncovered at this site.
The highlight of the temple is the old reclining Buddha. It is worth a special trip to see if you enjoy ancient artifacts like this. There are also a few other sites in the area that you could combine into an all day trip.
1,300 Year Old Sandstone Reclining Buddha - Oldest in Thailand - Wat Thammachak Semaram
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Mesa Verde National Park is a national park of the United States and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, and the only World Heritage Site in Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan ancestral sites in the United States.
Established by Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the park occupies 52,485 acres near the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.
With more than 5,000 sites, including 600 cliff dwellings, it is the largest archaeological preserve in the United States.
Mesa Verde (Spanish for "green table", or more specifically "green table mountain" ) is best known for structures such as Cliff Palace, one of the largest cliff dwellings in North America.
In addition to the cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde boasts a number of mesa-top ruins. Examples open to public access include the Far View Complex and Cedar Tree Tower on Chapin Mesa, and Badger House Community, on Wetherill Mesa.
The site is a must see for ...
PAINTED HAND PUEBLO
Built in the AD 1200s, Painted Hand Pueblo was a small village of about 20 rooms that still include faint rock paintings and petroglyphs.
The designs of the ancient images have special meaning to Tribal descendants.
In 2014, the Painted Hand Pueblo was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument encompasses more than 170,000 acres of high
desert. Part of the Bureau of Land Management's National Conservation Lands, the monument is
managed to protect its rich landscapes and cultural and natural resources.
The monument contains the highest recorded density of prehistoric and historic sites in North America.
Thousands of archaeological sites have been recorded in the monument, and thousands more await documentation and study. Sites with standing walls are more obvious, while other sites are rubble mounds or depressions in the earth.
This site is often overlooked by the more popular Mesa Verde and Hovenweep but still worth a visit....
Ancestral Puebloans farmed corn, beans, and squash; supplemented their diet with small game; and made tools from stones and animal bones. The average height of an Ancestral Puebloan was about 5'1" (156 cm) for females and 5'3" (163 cm) for males. The average life span was 30 years.
Ancestral Puebloan villages have stone masonry, underground structures, round rooms, rectangular rooms, towers and plazas. These villages sometimes include natural cliffs and rock shelters. Descendants of the people who lived long ago in the San Juan region still maintain ties to the area and live in modern villages in New Mexico and Arizona.
SAND CANYON PUEBLO
About AD 1250, families came together around the head of Sand Canyon to build a large and compact village. A thick, one-storytall, U-shaped wall surrounded hundreds of square rooms, round kivas, and community structures including a plaza, a large D-shaped structure, and a great kiva.
The village seems designed for defense-perhaps due to regional strife over dwindling ...
