PREHISTORY AND PROTOHISTORY ARCHAEOLOGY IN VIETNAM (OUTLINE)

Prof. Tran Quoc Vuong and Lam Thi My Dzung

(Hanoi National University)

Vietnamese archaeology is a nascent scientific branch which came into being and knew a slight initial development in the period of French colonization, interrupted in the anti-French resistance and only became really active since the 60’s.
Lectures on archaeology began to be given at the Hanoi University since 1959 and till now, this has always been the sole training center for archaeologists in the whole country.
Apart from the Hanoi University, other organizations to carry out archaeological researches and diggings include the Institute of Archaeology (created in 1968), the Museum of History (formerly, the Louis Finot Museum of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient), the Archaeological section of the Ho Chi Minh city Institute of Social Sciences (founded 1975)… working with the cooperation of regional Services of Culture and museums.
Turning to account the law-relevant advantages enjoyed by later-comers in conjunction with the correct orientation to stir up the historic traditions of culture-civilization of the various ethnic groups in the country, promoting the archaeology investigating effort into a fairly wide mass work, and, on the other hand, alive soon enough to the interdisciplinary approach and apt to rally the scientists of various branches from social sciences to natural sciences and techniques, in the last decades, Vietnamese archaeology has reaped definite results. Scientific cooperation has also been established between Vietnam and some archaeological organizations of Soviet, China, the GDR, Poland, Bulgaria and a number of Universities and individual archaeologists of the USA, Canada, Japan, France, Thailand, Australia, Denmark… both in the domain of radio- dating and that of field work.
The Time Line of Vietnamese archaeology
Prehistory

Paleolithic
Hominid fossils (Homo-Erectus, Homo-Sapiens, Homo-Sapiens-Sapiens in some caves of North Vietnam.
Early Paleolithic
Some stone tools were found at Nui Do site (North Vietnam) and Xuan Loc site (South Vietnam).
Late Paleolithic
The core industry-Sonvi Culture (North Vietnam)
The blade industry- Nguom technology (North Vietnam)
Neolithic
Early Neolithic
Hoabinhian and Bacsonhian cultures. Cave-sites, gatherer and hunting, shellfish collecting . The first pottery and edge-grinding stone axe. Key sites: Conmoong cave, Sungsam cave, Xom Trai…
Middle Neolithic
Epi-Hoabinhian and Epi-Bacsonian cultures: Coastal area, shell midden sites . Marine resources , fishing… and the early domestication. The local features in pottery. Chipped tools and grinding tools. Key sites: Quynh Van, Da But, Cai Beo…
Late Neolithic: Coastal and Inland areas. The developed polishing technology. Different kinds of pottery. Early agriculture. Various types of stone adze and axe. Key sites: Ha Long, Bau Tro.

Protohistory
Three main areas of development of the metal age cultures

North Vietnam (Red River Delta, Ma River Delta and Ca River Delta):
Three successive stages, named after the sites Phung Nguyen-Dong Dau-Go Mun in Bronze Age.
Pre-Dongsonian culture (4000-2700BP).
The high stone industry and the most beautiful pottery. The incipient bronze working. The bronze slag and drop were uncovered in the late Phung Nguyen sites, but the first bronze artifacts appeared in Dong Dau stage (3500BP). Local casting of bronze artifacts. The bronze working centers.

Nồi gốm văn hóa Phùng Nguyên di tích Đình Chiền, Hà Nội

Dongsonian culture- The Iron Age(2700-2000BP)
Developed rice-agriculture, sophisticated bronze industry with various ritual vessels,musical instruments,wearpons and utilitarian artifacts…; The agricultural iron implements(ca.2400 BP); Various mortuary rituals and the Early State. Key sites:Dong Son, Lang Ca,Co Loa, Lang Vac, Vinh Quang, Xuan La, Chau Can…

Chì lưới văn hóa Đông Sơn (Núi Sen), Thanh Hóa

The Dong Son complex system in the North has been investigated extensively and intensively: the area of distribution extends from the Vietnam-South China border to Quang Binh province and the time covers two millenaries B.C. and event overlaps one of two first centuries A.D. with different pre-Dong Son stages in the basins of the Red river, the Ma river and the Lam river. The study of orders of evolution from pre-Dong Son to Dong Son stages not only proves the Local character of the Dong Son culture, but also sheds light on its plural origins and the convergence and crystallization into the ancient VIET civilization in North Vietnam, the ”Kings Hung era” as called in ancient annals. The bronze drum, typical relic and symbol of the Dong Son civilization, has been an object of minute study on many planes: technology, typology, dating and decoding of the drawings carved on them.

Central Vietnam
Early period-Pre-Sahuynhian stage (3500-2700 BP) Pot burials were located in settlements sites. Red-slipped and decorated with shell impression, cord marked, painted pottery. Polishing stone shouldered and rectangular adze and axe. Fishing, shellfish collecting and hunting. Key sites: Xom Con,Long Thanh, Xom Con, Bau Tram. Bai Ong.
Late period_Sahuynhian stage (2700-2000BP) Jar burials, rich grave goods. Pottery with the earliest pre-sahuynhian features. Developed Iron technology in the final period; stone, glass and precious stone (such as jade, nephrite, agate) ornaments. The main kinds of decorative items include Ling Ling O earrings, Double animal heads ornaments, beads with various forms and measures. Imported bronze implements from Dong Son and Han Chinese cultures. Trades with China and India…Most of examined sites are cemeteries. Key sites: Binh Chau, Sa Huynh, Hau Xa, Go Ma Voi, Binh Yen, Dai Loc, Tam My, Phu Hoa, Xuan Loc, Giong Ca Vo…

Hạt chuỗi bằng vỏ nhuyễn thể văn hóa Sa Huỳnh, Gò Duối- Hòa Diêm, Khánh Hòa

The study of the Sa Huynh complex system in the costal areas of Southern Central Vietnam has been stepped up since 1975. Excavations in Quang Nam-Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan…have brought to light (despite subsisting controversies) different stages of evolution: pre-Sa Huynh; early Sa Huynh, classical Sa Huynh and even late Sa Huynh.

South Vietnam
Dong Nai cultural tradition:
Also since 1975, the study of the Neolithic and Metal ages in the Nam Bo Delta (i.e. The Me Kong River Delta) has given encouraging results with the discovery and digging of important sites in Dong Nai, Long An, An Giang… There have been workshops, teach-ins, publications and theses on those matters, among which an outstanding feature is in the establishment (though still debatable as to the order of different stages) of the Dong Nai complex system (also called Doc Chua complex system) with the late Neolithic stages (However the existence of this period is still subject to discus), the early and late Brass Age. The brass-founding industry in Doc Chua was very developed with hundreds of casting molds to fabricate tools and weapons. The collection of Long Giao bronze Ko is exceptionally rich and diverse. The study and unearthing of new relics of the Oc Eo civilization have got initial achievements showing that it was not centered exclusively in West Nam Bo, but spread to East Nam Bo and the Western Highlands as well.

From detailed descriptions of vestiges and relics recently discovered, we have proceeded on to different interpretations on archaeological data and diverse hypotheses an cultural exchanges and acculturation between the three centers Dong Son in the North, Sa Huynh in the Center, Dong Nai in the South, as well as on cultural contacts and acculturation between the said centers with other metallic centers in continental Southeast-Asia such as Sam Rong Sen in Cambodia, Ban Chiang in Thailand and the North Laos centers. The acculturation theory finds in Southeast Asia and Vietnam a fertile ground to develop and be applied. Similarly in the sphere of archaeological data and interdisciplinary study, questions on the coming into being of the Early Stages of the ancient Viet, Cham and Mon-Khmer peoples in the regions now belonging to the Vietnamese territory, have been put forward and heatedly debated.

While giving priority to Prehistory and Proto-history, Vietnamese archaeology, however, does not neglect the study of historic periods.
Historical Archaeology
The historic period covering the first ten centuries of Christian Era- usually referred to in our books of history as the period of Chinese domination- is one of intense Viet-Chinese acculturation, both forced and freewill, one of oscillation and gradual decline of the Dong Son civilization, also one of germination of Cultural Renaissance of Dai Viet after the year 1,000. Hundreds of Han –Tang tombs have been unearthed in many places; excavations have been carried out in the ancient citadels of Co Loa(Ha Noi), Luy Lau (Bac Ninh), the ancient tower of Nhan Thap (Nghe Tinh), ancient pottery kilns in the Bac Bo Delta…. The archaeologists also have carried out the systematic excavations at Champa (Central Vietnam) and Oc Eo (Southern Vietnam) relics. Many aspects related to these periods have been the subjects of theoretical research.

Thủy tinh Islamic (TK 9-10)tại bến cảng cổ Chămpa Cù Lao Chàm

The Dai Viet civilization under the Ly-Tran dynasties (11th-15thcenturies) as well as the Champa civilization (2nd-15thcenturies) strongly attracts the Vietnamese archaeologists. They have excavated many towers and pagodas of the Ly-Tran dynasties. The archaeological-artistic circles whose main force is concentrated in the Institute of Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture, have succeeded in establishing the Ly and Tran styles of the ancient Vietnamese sculpture on stone, wood and baked earth. The Van Don commercial port has been explored many times. Repeated excavations of the Bach Dang fields of pikes shed more lights on the victory over the Yuan-Mongol aggressors of the military genius Tran Hung Dao and the Dai Viet army and people under the Tran dynasty.
The Vietnamese branch of archaeology and musicology keeps in situ the Cham Museum in Tourane, studies Cham inscriptions and the system of Cham artistic styles, converses and restores many Cham towers, especially the My Son sanctuary (The World Cultural Heritage), with the cooperation of Polish specialists of conservation and restoration; we have explored, excavated and described many Cham citadels in Tra Kieu, Dong Duong, Khanh Hoa… Numbers of Cham citadels brick-walled wells have been discovered together with the Cham and Cham-Viet hydraulic systems. The Faifo commercial port, rich in Cham vestiges and relics, has been established as a principal gate port Champapura in golden times. In the late years, a lot of Cham occupation sites have been discovered and excavated.
Dai Viet culture under the Le-Nguyen dynasties (15th-19th centuries) is also an object of close study. The evolutionary steps of the Vietnamese pagoda and the system of Buddha statues in different art styles varying through historic periods, have been studies concentratedly as special subjects. In particular, the Dinh (communal house), typical architecture of Vietnamese village, has been subjected to an all-side study and classified for conservation. One often speakers of rural civilization, village civilization and communal house art. Multifaceted historic documents on the Le period have been collected through excavations in Lam Kinh (home place of the Les in Thanh Hoa) and the unearthing of tombs in “compound” (sort of Vietnamese cement made of lime molasses and tissue paper blended together) of mandarins, royal concubines… as well as tombs of Muong leaders (Quan Lang)- a subdivision of the Viet in Hoa Binh- former Son Tay at the foot of Mount Ba Vi.
With the assistance of UNESCO, the royal mausoleums in Hue, the ancient capital, have been conserved, restored and studied. Meanwhile, efforts have been deployed to conserve and study the ancient town of Hoi An (Faifo) with the scientific cooperation of Polish, Japanese, Australian… research. Many questions relating to the Nguyen Culture have been reappraised impartially with no political prejudice.
Vietnamese archaeology, on its sinuous and rough path of development, is still affected with many shortcomings and difficulties. It is a costly science, in fieldwork as well as in laboratory. And our country is still too poor to earmark adequate expenses for it. The Vietnamese cultural heritage is rich and diverse, while archaeological specialists in specific branches, in specific cultures and civilizations are lacking and inadequate in both quantity and quality. The basic investigation work is not completed yet, leaving many blanks on the map as well as in knowledge. The excavation methods show many primitive and backward aspects. The existing equipment and techniques as well as the used natural science practices are faulty. We are still lacking an overall and lasting system of subjects of scientific research. The scientific cooperation with foreign countries is still fairly limited.
However, we are convinced that with our own efforts, in the spirit of the renovation, with the support of our friends, the interdisciplinary and international cooperation, Vietnamese archaeology will reap many better results.Western historians became interested in the prehistory of VN around the turn of the 20th century. Their early studies theorized that ancient civilization of Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, was the product of Chinese and Indian cultures as their cultural influence expanded southward and eastward, hence the region was named Indo-China. But in the past 40years, Vietnamese archaeologists have brought to light significant information to present a more logical and coherent view of the pre-historic Vietnam. Based on recent excavations and surveys, Vietnamese archaeologists and historians have established a chronology of cultures originated in the Hong (Red) river valley from the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age through the Son Vi, Hoa Binh, Bac Son, Quynh Van, Da But, Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau and Go Mun culture. The Dong Son culture culminated the Bronze Age and the opening stage of the Iron Age. This culture represented the peak of the ancient civilization of Vietnam and the beginning formation of Van Lang/Au Lac, the first unified nation under the Hu’ng kingdom.