Written by John LeFevre

Thailand might not immediately spring to mind when people think of dinosaurs, however the north-eastern Isaan region of Thailand has unearthed more than a handful of significant prehistoric remains over the years.

Skeletal remains of prehistoric animals have been progressively unearthed in layers of sandstone dating back to the Jurassic era since the first remains were discovered in the Phu Wiang hills of Khon Kaen province, 370km north-east of Bangkok in 1976.

Thailand’s dinosaur remains are a result of the collision some 50 million years ago between the Eurasian continental plate and the Indo-Australian plate.

In South Asia this resulted in the formation of the Himalayan mountain range, while in Southeast Asia it formed the Korat and Sakorn Nakorn plateaus that comprise what is now Isaan.

Following the initial 1976 discovery a joint Thai-French paleontological expedition in 1982 unearthed Thailand’s first major dinosaur site, excavating 21 bones.

These bones were later named Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae, a new genus and species of sauropod – a gigantic plant-eating dinosaur that had a long neck and tail and a small head — that is thought to have been between 15 to 20 metres long.

Since the initial discovery four other species of dinosaur have been discovered in Phu Wiang, including Siamotyrannus isanensis, Thailand’s own version of Tyrannosaurus rex, which carbon dating shows to have preceded its larger and better known relative by some 30 million years.

These are not the only Jurassic era discoveries to come out of the region.

The remains of Siamosauraus suteethorni, a crocodile-looking animal and Compsognathus, the world’s smallest dinosaur, estimated at 70cm long, as well as the Ornithomimosaur, an ostrich-like dinosaur have also been unearthed at Phu Wiang.

In nearby Chaiyaphum province two new dinosaur species, Psittacosaurus sattayaraki, a parrot-billed dinosaur, and the Isanosaurus attavipachi, similar to Phuwiangosaurus, have also been discovered.

Visitors to the region have a number of opportunities of getting up close and personal with these prehistoric creatures.

The Phu Wiang Museum, situated 30km west of Khon Kaen city houses life-size replica’s of Thailand’s dinosaurs, while energetic tourists are also able to visit the nine dinosaur digging sites in the Phu Wiang National Park.

In 2007 the Department of Mineral Resources opened a new Bt370 million (US$12 million) museum about 30km north of Kalasin and close to the Phu Kum Khao dinosaur site where the remains of seven Phuwianggosaurus sirindhornae have been found.

The Sirindhorn museum houses Southeast Asia’s largest collection of dinosaur bones comprising more than 800 pieces, as well as collections of fossils from Thailand and elsewhere, models of dinosaur skeletons, and various video presentations with Thai and English explanations.

Sirindhorn Museum director, Naramase Teerarangsigul, said that in spite of the museum being a little off the normal tourist track, it was slowly becoming better known and attracting an increasing number of visitors.

“We have some extremely unique items here and while Thais make up the majority of visitors more foreign tourists are becoming aware of the size of our exhibition and visiting,” he said.

Phu Wiang Museum is located 370km northeast of Bangkok, 30km west of Khon Kaen city, while the Sirindorn Museum is located 430km northeast of Bangkok, 30km north of Kalasin city. Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia both fly to Khon Kaen, and public buses are available to Kalasin. Train or tour buses also service Khon Kaen.

The Phu Wiang and Sirindorn museums are open from 9am. to 5pm. daily, except Mondays.

Artist renditions of what the discovered dinosaurs would looked like when alive as depicted on Thai postage stamps.