via Bangkok Post, 06 March 2020: The Fine Arts Department of Thailand clarified that the rock art sites in Khao Yala are unaffected by last year’s order to de-gazette part of the mountain to mining. Local campaigners are calling for the order to be rescinded totally. Details from another story (see below) show that the rock art sites are located 500 m away from the proposed area for mining.
Conservationists have urged the Fine Arts Department to nullify an order that revokes part of Khao Yala mountain — home to an ancient fresco — as a conservation site in Yala’s Muang district in order to pave the way for a quarry.
In a complaint to the Culture Ministry’s inspector-general Prasop Riang-ngern on Thursday, the conservationists said the revocation order, approved by former fine arts chief Anant Chuchote on Sept 30 last year, demarcated nearly 200-rai of land from the 887-rai archaeological site on Khao Yala mountain.
The Fine Arts Department (FAD) registered this part of Khao Yala as an archaeological site in 2001 as it is home to a treasured fresco which dates back 2,000-2,500 years.
Source: FAD urged to rethink Khao Yala plan
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