The Thammasat Museum of Anthropology was opened to the public for the first time on 5th December 1987 to celebrate the occasion of the Late His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60th birthday. The King graciously bestowed the name of the museum and appointed Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to represent him in presiding over the opening ceremony of the museum, which was located at the Research and Academic Service Building, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, on Tuesday 29th March 1988. A few years after that, Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali, accompanied by Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha, presided over and laid the foundation stone for the Museum on Wednesday 19th September 1990.

      The Thammasat Museum of Anthropology was a project initiated by the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology in 1986. The faculty received artifacts from field excavations that were part of the Ban Chiang cultural project at Ban Om Kaeo and Ban That in Udon Thani province, led by Assoc. Prof. Sumit Pitiphat from 1972 to 1974. Additional artifacts were acquired from other archaeological sites in the years subsequent to the former. In 1987, Thammasat University received a large number of artifacts and cultural objects donated by Dr. Winit Winitnayapak. The Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, in collaboration with Thammasat University, as a result, proceeded to request a national budget from the government to construct the Thammasat Museum of Anthropology building. While awaiting approval, Thammasat University, together with the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, displayed the artifacts and cultural objects to the public on the second floor of the Research Building at Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus from 1988 to 1996.

        In 2001, Thammasat University handed over all artifacts and cultural objects and the authority to manage them to the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology. The Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology then proceeded to collect and move all the artifacts and cultural objects, both those previously collected by the faculty and those additionally received through donation, to be exhibited at the Thammasat Museum of Anthropology building.

        In 2007, the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, launched a project to integrate the curriculum of the Social Studies, Religion, and Culture with Thammasat Khlong Luang Wittayakhom School. Assoc. Prof. Pthomrerk Ketudhat, Chairman of the Thammasat Museum of Anthropology Executive Committee, initiated a pilot exhibition titled, “Pottery in Thailand: From Ban Chiang to Rattanakosin,” to provide educational resources for junior and senior high school students. Its purpose was to enhance the knowledge and understanding and to provide supplementary activities for the clustered curriculum of Social Studies, Religion, and Culture for students at Thammasat Khlong Luang Wittayakhom School and other secondary schools in the upper central region. This pilot exhibition focused on telling the story of the Thai nation through a display of pottery from various eras, starting from the prehistoric era at Ban Chiang period up to the Rattanakosin era, which reflected life, beliefs, and cultural exchanges. The exhibition was open to the public from 15 February 2008, until approximately June 2008.

      In 2011, following the major floods, the museum closed for renovations and underwent a new physical restructuring. The aim was to make the museum more accessible to all groups of people. A long ramp was constructed across an open area to create a continuous flow within the building. This area also serves as a space for displaying the museum’s objects where visitors can learn about the life of those objects and their connection to the world outside the museum.

      The museum’s mission is to display objects for educational research, enabling an understanding of humanity in its various dimensions through the viewing of cultural artifacts. It also wishes to promote an understanding of humanity and different groups of people amidst cultural diversity and their interactions with the world.

      The Thammasat Museum of Anthropology, in addition to being a museum for teaching and studying anthropology and sociology, also functions as a knowledge institution that offers a continuous learning alternative for people from childhood to retirement. It serves as a new cultural space for Thammasat University, its surrounding communities, and Thai society as a whole.