A museum used advanced synchrotron light technology to analyse the source of ancient gold in Thailand.

The Phimai National Museum in Nakhon Ratchasima province took gold samples believed to be a thousand years old from stone castles in Thailand's northeastern Isan region. The collection was done to analyse the composition of the precious metal using synchrotron light technology.

The data will be used to update the information at the museum’s exhibition and will also be compared with the geological database in search of gold ore.

Director of the National Museum Benjawan Polprasert brought the 20 gold samples to the Synchrotron Light Research Institute, where they underwent synchrotron light analysis.

Dr. Wantana Klysubun, the institute's Beamline Manager 8, found that the gold collected was from the 16th Buddhist century, during the era of the prosperous Khmer civilisation spreading influence to the Thai kingdom.

Besides ancient gold, the Phimai National Museum and the Synchrotron Light Research Institute have also collaborated to use synchrotron light to analyse other antiques, such as beads, Buddha images, and sculptures.

Benjawan said: ‘The ancient gold samples were only partially selected to analyse the various elements in gold because in the past there was no information on this matter. The data from this analysis will lead to the presentation of new information in the new exhibition of the Phimai National Museum.’