An ancient skeleton, of a child believed to date from the second defeat of the Ayutthaya kingdom period 240 years ago, was discovered on Tuesday in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district in Ayutthaya.
Independent archaeologist Worapot Hiranyawutikul and Ayutthaya Historical Park cultural academic Pisa Santadkan found the skeleton while digging at Wat Thammikarat in tambon Tawasukree during a landscaping project.
They found the one-metre tall skeleton, with some pottery, 40 centimetres below the soil's surface.
Worapot said he estimated the age of the child as between 10 and 12 and that it was alive during the second defeat around 1767.
The area is not a graveyard, he said, and they could not conclude the child's cause of death yet.
However, Pisa said experts would examine the bones to find out more about them later.
They will continue their excavations to find more archaeological evidence about the temple's background. People have different ideas about when Wat Thammaram was built - before or in the Ayutthaya kingdom era.
Pisa said previously skeletons of a mother and her child hugging each other had been found at the temple and they were believed to be from the same period as the child skeleton.