Pong Teuk

The famous Pong Teuk excavations are east of Kanchanaburi on Highway 323 to Nakhon Pathom, presumably a very old trade route. Digging has uncovered the foundations of several buildings which were probably part of a temple precinct. A sensational find here in 1928 was a bronze Roman oil lamp, thought to have been cast in Alexandria, in Egypt, in the 2nd c. ad.

The handle is shaped like a stylized palm leaf framed by dolphins and the lid is adorned with the head of a satyr, proof of the trade links that existed between south-east Asia and the Roman Empire.