Long before Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, Buddhist art flourished across present-day Thailand. The Dvaravati tradition, closely associated with Mon-speaking communities, emerged from cultural exchanges with India from the 6th century onward. By the 8th–11th centuries, local workshops produced distinctive stone and bronze Buddhas, Buddhist wheels and remarkable narrative sema stones. From Nakhon Pathom to Khon Kaen, Dvaravati art became a foundation of later Thai Buddhist sculpture