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Archaeology in marine areas and islands in Northeast Vietnam: Data and matters

Over 60 years, in the coastal areas in Northeast Vietnam, including Quang Ninh province and Hai Phong city, there have been a lot of discoveries and excavations of archaeological sites from Prehistory to History. However, due to various reasons, the pre-prohistorical picture here have a lot of mysteries and there are various opinions about characters, dates, development periods and the names of archaeological sites... On the basis of the collection of archaeological study data from Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, chiefly pre-Ha Long and Ha Long cultural sites, the author divides the history of discoveries and studies in the Northeast areas into two stages: 1937-1954 and 1954 to date and presents some following remarks: - There is no Paleolithic period in Northeast marine areas of Vietnam; - The pre-Ha Long cultural period includes two development stages: pre-Ha Long and Ha Long. In which, the pre-Ha Long culture consists of two cultural phases of the Hoa Binh culture and Cai Beo site (or Cai Beo culture).

Boat coffins and process of occupying Northeast plans by Dong Son cultural inhabitants

So far, 21 boat coffins have been found in Hai Phong and 9 ones found in Quang Ninh, increasing the number of boat coffins found in the Northeast Vietnam to 30. Apart from that, some other places in Hai Phong such as Gia Minh, Ha Te, as far as the author's speculation, are also boat coffin areas that need further study. The boat coffins in that area are common in shape, size and funeral customs such as: there are handles at the four coffin corners, two ears with holes for staking to fix the coffin and they were all buried in lowland, marshland or areas near river or sea. Boat coffin is a peculiar burial type of the Dong Son inhabitants. The research into this type is not only to understand the material economic life and spiritual culture, but also to help us to understand the process of exploration and occupation of the North lowland and the process of expanding to the sea by the Dong Son cultural inhabitants in the Northeast coastal area of Vietnam.

Environment and economic mode of prehistorical inhabitants in Northeast area of Vietnam

Based on the research results into environment and adaptable economic modes, the author sketches a process of existence and change of different economic strata of the Prehistorical inhabitants in our northeast area as follows: 1. With the eco-environment of inland - plain in Karst valleys in late Pleistocene - early Holocene, the living style of the Northeast coastal inhabitants was as an ecologically/humanely-adapted system of Hoa Binh-Bac Son. 2. Mid-Holocene sea advance with many courses of sea-level changes and due to the changes of living environment, the inhabitants in the Northeast coastal area had to change their living style. Though the trend of sea exploration is not clear, there are the activities exploring the coast with simple tools in combination with exploring products from inland. It is possible to say, this period marks the start of the sea-exploring trend and the beginning of primitive cultivation of prehistorical inhabitants in the northeast coastal area of Vietnam. 3. The Ha Long cultural inhabitants, especially in the final stage, the labor division occurred dramatically, making the economy more complicated, diversified and openner than any other contemporary cultures.

Large stone shovels in coastal area of Northeast Vietnam: Data and perception

So far, there have been nearly 30 stone shovels found in 7 North provinces of Vietnam, including the Northeast coastal area (Quang Ninh and Hai Phong), where the most shovels were found: 12 pieces. The circumstances of these finds are fairly similar, all of them have unclear layers and no accompanied artifacts. One of the matters interesting the researchers is the origin and source of these shovels. The study results to date show that the stone shovels found in the Northeast Vietnam are the products of interrelation and exchange between ancient Lac Viet groups in North Vietnam and their counterparts in South Guangxi (China). Due to the natural location, there might have been multilateral contacts between the owners of the stone shovels from Gui Nan and the Ha Long cultural inhabitants mainly through the sea line and the road from Lang Son. This fact more confirms that in Pleistocene, the Northeast coastal area in Vietnam was a centre of cultural contacts and product exchange between Northeast and Southeast Asia. That forms peculiar cultural characteristics of the Northeast coastal area in Vietnam, significantly contributing to the establishment of an ancient Viet civilization in the subsequent period.

Prehistorical environmental changes in coastal areas in Northeast Vietnam

Based on the archaeological study achievements, especially the changes of the strata of some typical archaeological sites such as Long Xue site (the Western side of Zhou Jiang, Zhong Shan city, China) and Cai Beo site (on Cat Ba island, Hai Phong), the author supposes that the living environment of prehistorical inhabitants in the coastal area of Northeast Vietnam has been undergone great changes, whose main factors were the sea-level changes in that period. The cave inhabitants in the early Neolithic period lived in inland environment. Then, due to the sea transgression, they were sunken deep into the sea water; whereas the Ha Long inhabitants, belonging to the late Neolithic cultural period, living in the sea environment were also sunken into sea water, which needs further study and much more new data to prove.

Some features about prehistorical culture in the Northeast coastal Vietnam

The archaeological achievements in the coastal and island areas in Northeast Vietnam have set up a sequence of Prehistorical cultural development from Soi Nhu to Cai Beo (lower layer) and Ha Long. However, it is monolateral development and if that was all and nothing else, our perception of historical culture in this area is not enough. In terms of geographical position, the Northeast coastal area is the source of acculturation from the North downwards - South upwards - islands outwards. It is a place not only for widespreading but also for converging a lot of cultural factors from Prehistory to History, making the cultural appearance in this area have peculiar and diversified nuance. On the basis of historical cultural perception about the above-mentioned Northeast area, the author analyses some controversial problems in Preprohistorical archaeology in this area: 1. Soi Nhu culture or a local type of the Hoa Binh culture. The author supposes that if the Hoa Binh culture was considered to be general for all over Southeast Asia, the Soi Nhu culture should be a local type of the Hoa Binh culture; 2. About Hon Ngo-Nui Hua problem, the author supposes they should have belonged to the Ha Long culture but in addition, there is the contribution of Fang Cheng (a similar archaeological culture, at Dong Xing district - China); 3. The Ha Long culture with the problem of Phung-nguyennisation, the author supposes that in the late period of the Ha Long culture there would have been Phung-nguyennisation process in the Northeast coastal area and islands.

Some thoughts about cultural physiognomy in the coastal islands of Northeast Vietnam

Archaeological work in the Northeast coastal area of Vietnam in the past years has gained many exciting achievements, having found a lot of the important sites, collecting a numerous original and rare artifacts. Up to now, the picture of the cultural evolution in this area has been sketched with Paleolithic traces at Tan Mai site, the cultural periods of Hon Ngo - Nui Hua (or Quat Dong Nam cultural period) and Soi Nhu - Cai Beo - Ha Long. However, there have been many controversial matters that need new data. The remarkable thing is that the Northern coastal area has converged enough forms of geology, physiognomy, mountain/forest terrains, from hills/mounds to narrow plains, coastal dunes-islands and rock mountains. Therefore, the cultural life of the inhabitants here have always been together with sea, with the sea effects. The sea has effects on the lifestyle, on cultural appearance and the whole cultural periods at home and abroad, especially the Liangquang cultural area (South China).

Some typological problems of workshop site in Northeast Vietnam

The paper is based on the data from the excavations at workshop sites of Trang Kenh, Bo Chuyen, Dau Ram and Bai Ben, presenting some problems of workshop types existing in the Northeast area, in which the author is interested in the characteristics and multi-lateral relationship between those workshop groups and other cultures or synchronic sites in the coastal areas and inland in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in Vietnam. Based on the present data, the author proposes an establishment of an Early Bronze Age in the coastal area: Trang Kenh culture and suggests some problems for discussion: - The group of the workshop sites of Trang Kenh - Dau Ram - Bo Chuyen belongs to a peculiar archaeological culture or the adaptation of the late Phung Nguyen-Early Dong Dau inhabitants in the marine environment; - The source of retouching/pressing techniques of the Ha Long culture at Ben Bai site, the factors of technical exchange in the economic triangular area of Trang Kenh - Dau Ram - Ben Bai or the self-development and then widespread.

The sea-level vibration and coastal archaeology in Northeast Vietnam

In the Quarternary, the coastal zone in Vietnam in general and the Northeast coast areas and islands in particular deeply suffered the effects of sea-level vibration. The main consequence of the global climate changes caused the Ice Age and Interglacial corresponding to the sea transgression and regression periods. This process occurred again and again so that the natural landscape and environment were changed and the living activities of the ancient inhabitants were affected. The traces of sea-level ups and downs remain as ancient sea coastal lines, the sea terraces, the water line on the limestone mountains, the assemblages of fossils and their sediments... There, in the past appeared ancient inhabitant concentrations in coastal zones and islands. On the basis of the collection of various data sources, the paper mainly referred to the sea-level vibration from late Pleistocene to Holocene in the coastal areas and islands in Northeast Vietnam and the matters relevant to archaeological sites in those areas.

The spatial and time relation of Ha Long culture

The Ha Long culture is distributed in the Northeast coastal area, especially the two provinces of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong. The Ha Long culture has undergone two development stages of Late Neolithic and Early Metal Age. The living environment of Ha Long cultural inhabitants was on the sand bars along the coast, in the caves and rockshelters in the inland as well as off-sea islands. The typical Ha Long cultural tools are shouldered or stepped axes, Ha Long "marks", and coarse ceramics... Through the study of cultural characteristics, the author supposes that the Ha Long culture might have a large relationship with other synchronic sites in the North plain and midland and some cultures in the North mountainous areas as well as the Central coastal area towards the South and Tay Nguyen areas. The Ha Long culture also has the relationship outside Vietnamese borders such as Guangzhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan island and Hong Kong (China), Philippine and Thailand. As for time, the author supposes tnat the Ha Long culture might originate from the Hoa Binh - Bac Son cultures, but directly from the archaeological groups in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong, of which the majority is from Quang Ninh, with the two development stages: Thoi Gieng (4,500BP) and Soi Nhu, Ngoc Vung (4,OOO-3,OOOBP).