A tour of dinosaur finds and traces of prehistoric man in Northeastern Thailand

Thailand has been catching up with its very distant past this year, opening two new museums in the Northeast for the dinosaur fossils and petrified wood that have been unearthed there. This tour of the region, known colloquially as Isaan, takes in both museums, dig sites on the towering Korat Plateau and elsewhere, some prehistoric cliff paintings ... and for something completely different, that troublesome stegosaurus in Cambodia's Angkor temple complex.

The dinosaur fossils found in Thailand date from the late Triassic Period, 200 million years ago, to the early Cretaceous, 140 million years ago. Ancient fish fossils were discovered and identified in northern Thailand in 1916, but it wasn't until the early 1970s and '80s that the breadth of what lies beneath was determined.

Much of the online information about the sites is confusing and some contradictory, so corrections are welcome. At any rate, for a fine, brief overview, go here, and for a good synopsis from Anurak Tourism Thailand, here.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE: A 26th placemark has been added reflecting the discovery announced in December 2007 of the remains of an allosaurus in the village of Ban Saphan Hin.