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Vinh Phuc: Awakening Dong Dau archaeological site: Lesson 1: Once the largest ancient Vietnamese residence in the Northern Delta

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The new Secretary of Yen Lac District Party Committee (Vinh Phuc) grew up from a journalist who not only pays attention to communication work, creates social consensus to implement local decisions, but also pays great attention to cultural development. , is one of the pillars of sustainable development.

Gate to Dong Dau Archaeological Site (Yen Lac – Vinh Phuc). Photo: Tien Dung. Lesson 1: Used to be the largest ancient Vietnamese residence in the Northern Delta Reviewing the historical process, Yen Lac is a land rich in potential for historical relics. In Binh Dinh commune, a relic of Go Gai (also known as Dong Gai) has been found in Coc Lam village, a site of Phung Nguyen culture. In Dong Cuong commune, there is Quan Doi (also known as Quan Doi Dong) at the junior high school area, with vestiges of Phung Nguyen culture. Also in Dong Cuong commune, there is Ma Hon, in Chi Chi village, with vestiges of the Metal Age. Right in Yen Lac town, there is a famous archaeological site of Dong Dau, with vestiges of the culture of Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, and Go Mun. Also in this area was found the site of Go Chua Bien Son with vestiges of the Phung Nguyen culture. In Nguyet Duc commune, there is Dinh Xa site, in Dinh Xa village, Dong Dau cultural site has been discovered. In this commune, there is also a site of Hai Cay bronze with traces of the Metal Age… Archaeologists have initially sketched a panorama of ancient times in this place thanks to excavations, survey and reconnaissance in Yen Lac district and Vinh Phuc province. Panorama of Dong Dau archaeological site (Yen Lac – Vinh Phuc). Photo: Tien Dung. While the district has just formed 5 industrial clusters but has not yet formed an industrial park like other areas in the province, Yen Lac advocates exploiting its strengths in culture, especially historical and cultural relics to preserve , promote, first of all to serve sustainable tourism development in order to break out of the purely agricultural district. On the basis of information provided by leaders of Yen Lac district, at the beginning of the year of Tan Suu (2021), we went to survey Dong Dau archaeological relic which was ranked as a National Historical and Cultural relic by the State. from April 21, 2000. This relic is 1.5 Km east of Yen Lac district center, completely located on a mound about 6 m high compared to the surrounding lowland field, with a total area of ​​8.5 ha, in Dong village, Yen town. Lost. Since its discovery (in 1962) until now, Dong Dau archaeological relic has been protected, serving for excavations, research, study tours of specialized scientific agencies, scientists and researchers. domestic and foreign scientists and students from local schools. Stone axes and bowls were discovered at Dong Dau archaeological site in 1999. Photo: Vinhphuc.gov.vn/ Dong Dau relic has undergone 7 major exploration and excavation times in the years: 1965-1966, 1967, 1968-1969, 1984, 1987, 1999 and 2012, with a total area of ​​758m2, concentrated on the southern slopes. East, South, West and the top of the mound with an average thickness of cultural layer over 3m (up to 6m in some places). The 7th excavation was held in December 2012 with the participation of 3 agencies, namely the Department of Archeology, Faculty of History, University of Science and Humanities – Hanoi National University, the Vietnam Archaeological Association and the Department of Archeology. Culture Sports Tourism Vinh Phuc province. Bronze artifacts discovered at Dong Dau archaeological site in 1999. Photo: Vinhphuc.gov.vn Through 7 excavations, many archaeological remains have been discovered with thousands of specimens, tons of pottery pieces of all kinds, extremely rich in materials, types, diverse in types and designs. symbols of 3 cultures: Phung Nguyen – Dong Dau – Go Mun made of stone (axe, chisels, grinding tables, rings, jewelry beads), bronze (ax, file, arrow, hook, javelin) ceramic ( pieces of pots, jars, forks, stringers, ceramic balls and many tools made of bones and horns, animal remains such as pigs, deer, deer, buffalo, cows, dogs, tigers… and quite a few fish bones. At the same time, there are also images of buffaloes, cows, chickens and many animal bones found, for the first time, burnt rice grains have been found, proving that wet rice farming has existed for a long time and plays an important role. important in the life of ancient Vietnamese residents. Dong Dau Go is a precious relic, contributing to affirming in the historical process of the nation spanning about 2 millennia, the ancient Vietnamese people stopped and settled in Dong Dau, creating the Northern Delta. and created the Red River civilization, especially built a brilliant wet rice civilization. Compared to all other archaeological sites (usually with a cultural layer of about 40-50cm), Dong Dau has the thickest cultural layer up to 6m and has a bottom-up evolution over time. Archaeologists have discovered 4 cultural layers of this archaeological site. The bottom (oldest) layer unearthed many stoneware, pottery, horn tools and many animal remains. Notably, in 1999, the Vietnam History Museum in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vinh Phuc conducted the 6th excavation and discovered a burial tomb, still retaining human remains of the Phung Nguyen culture. This excavation, although only 25m2, but also discovered a tomb located at a depth of 3m. Archaeologists have found very clear tomb borders. The tomb is almost intact except for the missing left femur – possibly due to later people digging a hole to hit the grave and also not ruling out the destruction of the termite nest. The reason is unknown, but found evidence that the right fibula was broken but healed. In particular, there is the custom of dyeing the teeth black and the custom of extracting the upper front teeth and the entire lower front teeth. Obviously, this is not a lost tooth, because if it falls out, the arch must leave traces of tooth points. Meanwhile, this skeleton saw that the lower arch of the jaw where it was extracted had healed to form a sharp edge. The ancient human remains found in Dong Dau were dated by radiocarbon dating (C14) method, showing that the earliest class in Dong Dau dates back to 3,500 years ago. In the remaining three cultural layers, more bronze artifacts were discovered. From the discovered archaeological relics, through the research process, up to now, it is possible to recognize the basic Dong Dau archaeological relics: Dong Dau is the largest ancient Vietnamese residence site in the center of the Northern Delta region, the largest distribution area, the thickest cultural layer, containing a huge amount of archaeological artifacts. and rich. Overview of the excavation pit at Dong Dau relic, 1969. The stages of archaeological culture following the continuous progression at the archaeological site of Dong Dau have confirmed very clearly that: The earliest class was from Phung Nguyen, followed by Dong Dau, Go Mun and finally Dong Son. And because of that, from the Dong Dau relic, Vietnamese archaeologists have a scientific basis to determine the criteria for the stages of cultural development in the Red River basin: The earliest humans present here belong to the late stage of Phung Nguyen culture, they have reached the peak of primitive stone processing techniques, polished, beautiful, sophisticated stone jewelry, began to appear. copper metallurgy. Pottery made by turntable, elegant, balanced, beautiful, typical pattern is the project of carving lines, dots, and symmetry. Wet rice farming has developed, many rice grains and rice burned in coal ash have been discovered. Next is the Dong Dau period with typical elements of reduced stone tools, thick pottery, high calcination, decorative patterns with music staff motifs, brushed into projects: letter S, number 8, symmetry ; bones, horns develop; copper casting technique became the dominant factor. The third layer belongs to the Go Mun culture period, the remaining stone items are few, the horn bones are rare, the pottery is rough, the calcination is higher than the previous two stages, mainly the broken mouth, the main decorative pattern. on the mouth. The top layer belongs to the Dong Son culture period, because the surface of the site has been plowed since it has not been discovered, but the discovered relics are scattered in the scope of the site, mainly bronze artifacts: Axes. Xeo, spear, and knife are typical of Dong Son culture. With 4 periods of archaeological culture present on the same site, the development is continuous, representing a stable and long-term settlement process of ancient Vietnamese residents to form the first State of the people. Ethnicity- State of Van Lang in the Hung King era This is the greatest value of the archaeological site of Dong Dau, not only for Vinh Phuc but also for Vietnam and Southeast Asia. These are extremely valuable evidences to learn about the customs, practices and especially the anthropological composition of the ancient Vietnamese in the Red River basin. The discovery of ancient human remains in Dong Dau will contribute to scientific documents that gradually shed light on the issue of “Vietnamese origin” that many scientists are still trying to find and research. From that, it can be affirmed that Dong Dau along with other archaeological vestiges system in Yen Lac and Vinh Phuc province is from Phung Nguyen culture to Dong Son culture, which brought the process of opening the period of Hung Vuong building the country from the mythical age of Vietnam. history but is being forgotten, wasted, not studied, preserved and promoted to serve sustainable socio-economic development. (There’s more)

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