I-San Jurassic Park


Sirindhorn Museum and Phu Kum Khao Dinosaur Excavation Site is located in Sahatsakhan district of Kalasin Province. It is situated at the foothill of Phu Kum Khao in the Wat Sakkawan. The museum and the dinosaur excavation site are only accessible if you take the Kalasin - Sahatsakhan Highway for 25 kilometers. The museum is around 2 kilometers before you reach Sahatsakhan.

The Isaan Jurassic Park, as Wat Sakkawan and the museum are together known, is a treasure trove of palaeontology that looks set to become one of Asia's leading dinosaur attractions. Indeed, the temple is probably the only place in the world where visitors can play with real bones undisturbed by security guards or "don't touch" signs. Britain's famed Natural History Museum in London has nothing to compare. for an introduction to a time when dinosaurs ruled Thailand, the museum is the place to start. Built by the Department of Mineral Resources with a budget of Bt370 million, its wilderness location is announced by a giant sign atop a nearby hill. The site where the museum stands - known as Phu Khum Klao - is where the remains of seven Phuwiangosaurus Sirindhornae were found along with nearly complete skeletons of other species. Altogether, five species of dinosaur have been unearthed in Thailand, on digs in Khon Kaen's Phuwiang, Chaiyaphum, Sakon Nakhon, Udon Thani and Kalasin. The four found in Kalasin are all from the Cretaceous period - 145.5-65.5 million years ago: Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae was a giant plant-eating Sauropod 20 metres in length; Siamotyrannus isanensis was a carnivorous Theropod; Siamosaurus suteethorni was a fish-eating dinosaur of the Carnosaurian class, seven metres in length; and Psittacosaurus sattayaraki was a metre-long herbivore living about 100 million years ago.