The 2,000-Year-Old Gold Ring of Don Yai Thong

A gold ring cut with a name, buried for 2,000 years — and the question it leaves behind.

Jan Montri July 29, 2026

A gold ring cut with a name, buried for 2,000 years — and the question it leaves behind.

Treasures & Tales is our editorial series tracing the histories, places, and people behind heritage jewelry. This dispatch returns to Don Yai Thong, in Phetchaburi — the site that started this whole chapter.

Don Yai Thong (ดอนยายทอง) keeps giving. The burial count has risen from eight to nine, and among the finds is a small gold signet ring, estimated at 2,000 years old, inscribed with what reads as “Pusarkhitas” — possibly meaning protected by the star Pushya. A ring with a name on it is a different kind of object from a ring without one. It narrows 2,000 years down to a person.

What the inscription may say

The working reading of the inscription is “Pusarkhitas,” understood as a reference to Pushya — a star, and a name element found across early South and Southeast Asian naming traditions. Readings like this get refined as specialists work on them, so treat it as the current interpretation rather than the last word.

What isn't in doubt is the choice behind it. Someone had a name cut into gold, wore it, and was buried with it still on them.

Why a ring goes into a grave

This is the human question the object raises: who wore this ring, and why did it matter enough to follow them into death?

It's the same instinct we found 29,000 years earlier, at the other end of the country — shells and small treasures placed around a child at Khao Sam Roi Yot. Jewelry in a burial is rarely about wealth. It's about identity: the thing that said who you were, kept with you when nothing else could be.

I don't have all the answers on this one yet — but that's what makes an excavation worth following. The legend that started this dig turned out to be true, and the ground is still not finished talking.

Two thousand years on, the signet ring is still one of the most personal things you can wear — see how the idea carries into our rings and Gold Haven collections.

Don Yai Thong, Phetchaburi, Thailand.

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Frequently asked questions

What was found at Don Yai Thong?

The excavation at Don Yai Thong in Phetchaburi, Thailand has uncovered prehistoric burials — now nine, up from eight — along with a small gold signet ring estimated to be about 2,000 years old.

What does the inscription on the gold ring mean?

The ring is inscribed with what reads as “Pusarkhitas,” which may mean “protected by the star Pushya.” It is a working reading, and interpretations can change as specialists study the object.

Why was jewelry buried with the dead?

Grave jewelry is usually about identity rather than wealth — the piece that marked who someone was, kept with them in death. The same instinct appears in Thailand as early as 29,000 years ago, in the shell offerings placed around a child at Khao Sam Roi Yot.