Tham Pung Hung - MH0065
19.630882,98.194417
Location
From Ban Mai Hung follow the H1226 north for 1.4km to a junction where there is a track on the left. The junction is at 47Q 417565 2171215. Follow the track west, along the ridge through orchards and fields, for 1.2km to a Y junction. Turn left and after 550m the track ends. From here it is 450m, and a 100m descent, over fields down to the entrances.
Description
The large dry entrance chamber, which was known as Banyan Valley Cave to Gorman, can be used to by-pass the first 100m of stream passage. The stream entrance is 1 to 1.5m high and opens up into a passage 10m wide by 2m high. After a couple of hundred metres an inlet from the south brings the water from the 400m long Short Snake Cave. The current end of Short Snake Cave is a gravel sump and is very close to this inlet. During the dry season the active stream disappears into gravel at a flat-out crawl about 500m from the entrance and is not seen again until below the pitch. Around 800m from the entrance there is a 200m long inlet from the east which brings a tributary stream from Sink MH161. The cave continues with the same 1 to 4m high sinuous passage with 4 or 5 flat-out crawls and a couple of dry bypasses. At a distance of 2km from the entrance there is a long, well decorated, tributary coming from the west which may be associated with a doline to the north of Tham Pha Daeng (MH0077). Near this tributary, but on the east side of the passage, there is the only chamber in the cave. The entrance to the chamber is over the top of the silt banks in the stream passage and is easily missed. This funnel shaped chamber is about 15m across and 8 to 10m deep. This chamber doesn't appear to take water from the streamway, even though it is 8m lower. Just beyond the western tributary the character of the passage changes, becoming a vadose canyon, reducing in width to 0.5m in places and up to 10m high. After descending a couple of impressive swirl pools the top of the 16m pitch is reached. There is a handily placed jug at the pitch head for rigging. Below the pitch the stream reappears from amongst the gravel. Passing one small tributary from the west the passage continues for 600m until the roof lowers. Exploration was stopped where the cave was only 10cm high over a gravel floor at a point that is about 1km from the upstream end of the 1.7km long Tham Huai Kun.
Topographie
Published surveys: BOLAND, KEN (1992a) - outline plot on 1:50,000 topographic map. BOLAND, KEN (1992b) - outline survey DILOKWANICH, SITTIPONG ET AL. (2000) SHOOCONDEJ, RASMI (2000) - Banyan Valley Cave ELLIS, MARTIN (2009)
Documents
[Topo] Tham Pung Hung 12/05/2019Bibliography 09/05/2020
- +Anon. (2011b) "Baseline study for ecotourism development in Mae Hong Son" Final mission report by Thailand Community Based Tourism Institute (CBT-I) for the United Nations Joint Program on Integrated Highland Livelihood Development in Mae Hong Son, Output 1.3: Ecotourism. June 2011. 175p +BAYARD, DONN; CHAROENWONGSA, PISIT (1985) ôChet Gorman: An Appreciation 11 March 1938 û 7 June 1981" Asian Perspectives Vol. 25 No. 1 pp1-12 +BOLAND, KEN (1989) "Under the Triangle - Thailand 88" Nargun Vol. 21 No. 10 pp90- +BOLAND, KEN (1992a) "Caving in Thailand" Australian Caver No. 132 pp7-9 +BOLAND, KEN (1992b) "NW Thailand - The Story So Far" International Caver No. 5 pp30-35 +Chitkament, Thanon; Gaillard, Claire; Shoocongdej, Rasmi (2015) "Tham Lod Rockshelter (Pang Mapha district, north-western Thailand): Evolution of the lithic assemblages during the late Pleistocene" Quaternary International Issue 416 pp151-161 +CISCO [PSEUD.]; STUCK [PSEUD.] (2001) "The Thailand Trip of 2000" www.wmceg.freeserve.co.uk/reports/thailand.htm +COGGAN, MARJORIE; DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT; ANDERSON, NEIL (EDS.) (1999) "Tham Sanuk: The Lighter Side Of Caving In Thailand" Canberra, 76pp +Conrad, Cyler (2015) "Archaeozoology in Mainland Southeast Asia: Changing Methodology and Pleistocene to Holocene Forager Subsistence Patterns in Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia" Open Quaternary Vol. 1 Article 7, 23pp +Conrad, Cyler; Higham, Charles; Eda, Masaki; Marwick, Ben (2016) "Palaeoecology and forager subsistence strategies during the Pleistocene û Holocene Transition: A reinvestigation of the zooarchaeological assemblage from Spirit Cave, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand" Asian Perspectives Vol 55 No. 1 pp2-27 +DILOKWANICH, SITTIPONG; ET AL. (2000) "An Exploration and Database System of the Caves, Mae Hong Son Province" 6 Vols. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok - STD675, STD87, STD 674 +DUNKLEY, JOHN ROBERT (1995) "The Caves of Thailand" Speleological Research Council, Sydney ISBN 0-9589253-9-9 - NL14 +ELLIS, MARTIN (2009) ôThailandÆs Top Twentyö Shepton Mallet Caving Club Journal Series 12 No. 4 pp140-232 +Ellis, Martin (2015c) "Thailand's Longest and Deepest Caves: A Caving Guide" Martin Ellis, Shepton Mallet ISBN 978-1-326-43857-9 84pp +Ellis, Martin; Laumanns, Michael (2017) "Thailand" in Laumanns, Michael; Price, Liz (eds.) (2017) "Atlas of the Great Caves and Karst of Southeast Asia: Part 2 Myanmar - Vietnam" second edition, Berliner Hohlenkundliche Berichte Band 67 pp241-292 +HIGHAM, CHARLES (1989) "The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia from 10000 BC to the Fall of Angkor" Cambridge University Press, Cambridge reprinted (1999) +HIGHAM, CHARLES (2002) "Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia" River Books, Bangkok ISBN 9748225704 375pp +HIGHAM, CHARLES; THOSARAT, RACHANIE (1999) "Prehistoric Thailand: From Early Settlement To Sukhothai" Thames and Hudson, London ISBN 0500974748 236pp and River Books, Bangkok (2001) ISBN 9748225305 234pp +Kiernan, Kevin (1988e) "Geomorphology of a tropical intermontane basin in the Sino-Burman Ranges" 26th International Geographical Congress 1988, International Geological Union, Sydney pp1-24 +Kiernan, Kevin (1991b) "Tropical mountain geomorphology and landscape evolution in North-west Thailand" Zeitschrift f³r Geomorphologie N.F. Vol. 35 No. 2 pp187-206 +Kiernan, Kevin; Spies, John; Dunkley, John Robert (1988) "Prehistoric occupation and burial sites in the mountains of the Nam Khlong area, Mae Hong Son Province, Northwestern Thailand" Australian Archaeology No. 27 pp24-44 +LATINNE, ALICE; WAENGSOTHORN, SURACHIT; ROJANADILOK, PRATEEP; EIAMAMPAI, KRAIRAT; SRIBUAROD, KRIANGSAK; MICHAUX, JOHAN R. (2013) " Diversity and endemism of Murinae rodents in Thai limestone karsts" Systematics and Biodiversity Vol. 11 online 22pp +REYNOLDS, TIMOTHY E.G. (1990) "Problems in the Stone Age in Thailand" Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 78 No. 1 pp109-114 +REYNOLDS, TIMOTHY E.G. (1992) "Excavations at Banyan Valley Cave, Northern Thailand : A Report on the 1972 Season" Asian Perspectives Vol. 31 No. 1 pp77-97 +SHOOCONGDEJ, RASMI; ET AL. (2000b) "Archaeology" in "An Exploration and Database System of Caves: Mae Hong Son Province" Vol. 4. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahidol University, Bangkok - site 38, site 30 +SIDISUNTHORN, PINDAR; GARDNER, SIMON; SMART, DEAN (2006) "Caves of Northern Thailand" River Books, Thailand, ISBN 9749863135 +TWELFTREE, HELEN (1996) "Caving in Thailand and Other Things" Cambridge Underground 1996 pp50-54
History
In the Banyan Valley Cave entrance signs of Chester Gorman's original archaeological excavation in 1972 can still be seen although all the interesting artifacts have long since been removed. There are 3 separate excavation pits 90-130cm deep. A unique example of a triangular stone tool shaped like a spear head was found at this site. The stream cave was initially explored by the 1988 Australian expedition who were stopped by the 16m pitch. In 1990 exploration was continued below the pitch and the cave was surveyed. As well as its archaeological significance the cave has important geological features being very well decorated with some of the biggest cave pearls known from the region. 1995 Helen Twelftree, Nick Procter
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | Short Snake Cave - MH0162 | 400 | 0 |
| 0.5 | Sink MH0161 - MH0161 | 35 | 0 |
| 0.9 | No Snake At All Cave - MH0163 | 25 | 0 |
| 1.0 | Cave MH0222 - MH0222 | ||
| 1.0 | Tham Pha Daeng - MH0075 | 100 | 50 |
| 1.1 | Sink MH0309 | ||
| 1.3 | Cave MH0223 - MH0223 | ||
| 1.4 | The Complimentary - MH0256 | 150 | 0 |
| 1.7 | Tham Nam Hu - MH0082 | 100 | 0 |