Category:Kanchanaburi Province

Map Keys
	Large Prasats		Arogyasalas
	Large Ruins		Dharmasalas
	Medium Prasats		Ancient Bridges
	Medium Ruins		Ancient Cities
	Medium Tuols		Ancient Kilns
	Small Prasats		Ancient Quarries
	Small Ruins		Ancient Reservoirs
	Small Tuols		Ancient Villages
	Museums		Carvings
	Depositories		Other Structures
	Wats		Prehistoric Sites
	Neak Ta's		Unknown Sites
	Unconfirmed Sites

Despite the presence of a limited numnber of Dvaravati settlements in its flatter, eastern reaches, the ancient Khmer presence in what is today Thailand's western province of Kanchanaburi is overwhelmingly restricted to the late 12th and early 13th century period. The architectural and art styles are known as Bayon and the principal ruler was none other than Jayavarman VII. There are some hints of an early, Chenla-period influence (see Wat Dong Sak and Phong Tuek) and there may even have been a foray by Suryavarman I but no significant, confirmed Khmer vestiges exist prior to this period.

The province is principally rugged, forested mountains divided southwest and northeast by the Khwae Noi River which to the east flows into the Gulf of Thailand while to the northwest provides one of the region's few relatively easy access points to what is now southern Burma (Myanmar). (The border point today is known as the Three Pagodas Pass.) As such the Khwae (Kwai) Valley formed a key transport and trading connection between the Dvaravati cities of the Central Plains and the early Burmese Mon settlements around present-day Dawei, Mawlamyine, Thaton etc.

This trade route was certainly of importance to the Khmers - even if no evidence of permanent settlements is present - and it is significant that when Jayavarman VII did choose to extend his authority in this direction, almost all sites were on or close to the Khwae Noi. A small string of late 12th-century sites was then established in the valley including Muang Krud, Klon Do and most famously Muang Sing or Jayasinghapura. While they were certainly important trading posts, situated close to a key transportation route, these sites are also all heavily fortified and undoubtedly served both as frontier entrepots and border defences. This remote mountainous region was, in Angkorean times, the 'Wild West'.