A Pair of 2,000-Year-Old Gold Rings, One Engraved With Indian Script, Was Discovered in an Iron Age Burial Ground in Thailand

The engraving seems to reference an “auspicious” zodiac sign in Indian or Vedic astrology

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

July 7, 2026 3:19 p.m.

Share

Copy linkEmailSMSFacebookXRedditLinkedInBlueskyPrint

Add as preferred source

Archaeologists unearthed a pair of 2,000-year-old gold rings, one engraved with an ancient script, alongside human remains in Thailand.

The discovery was made last week at the Don Yai Thong archaeological site, which is located roughly 80 miles southwest of Bangkok in the Phetchaburi province. Researchers think the site was used as a burial ground for high-ranking members of society. Since February, it has yielded a trove of artifacts that offer new glimpses at life—and death—during the area’s Iron Age, roughly 2,500 to 1,500 years ago.

Local people helped to discover the archaeological site in 2026 when they found pieces of bronze drums in a rice field. Excavations this year have turned up more than half a dozen human skeletons at Don Yai Thong, according to the Associated Press.

Each appears to have been buried according to a specific ritual, facing northeast with a bronze item placed over the head, the Bangkok Post reports. Artifacts including gold jewelry, bronze and pottery indicate that the deceased enjoyed a higher status in life.

The newfound rings represent something new altogether for Don Yai Thong. One is engraved with Brahmi writing, an ancient script thought to derive from Aramaic and be the basis of many modern scripts or alphabets used in south and southeast Asia, including most Indian languages, Thai and Khmer. Brahmi appeared as a fully developed system in the third century B.C.E. and was used to inscribe histories and announcements on cliffs, pillars and caves during the reign of Ashoka.

According to the AP, initial analysis of the script suggests it reads pusarakhitasa, translated to mean “the one protected by Pushya.” The Thai government’s Fine Arts Department says that Pushya is one of the most auspicious zodiac signs in Indian or Vedic astrology, AP reports.

The other gold ring was plain, and did not have any writing. Initial hypotheses place the rings’ former owner within the Vaishya social class or varna, the third-highest of the four traditional social classes of Hindu India. The Vaishyas were commoners and worked for a living as merchants, farmers and traders.

Researchers plan to conduct 3D scans of the site and send charcoal samples to the United States for scientific dating, per the Bangkok Post.

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.