Excavations at Ban Chiang on the Khorat plateau in northeast Thailand suggest rice farming was under way by as early as 2500 BC. From around 300 BC the Indianized Funan kingdom held sway across much of southeast Asia, including eastern and central Thailand. Artifacts discovered at the Funan capital of Ba Phnom, in modern Cambodia, point to trading links with China and India and as far as the Middle East and Rome. At its height in the 6th century AD, Funan control included part of the Malay peninsula.