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Archaeology in area of Ba Be National Park

At the area of Ba Be National Park, the author have just found a fairly typical site for the Hoa Binh culture, marking a forward step of the early Neolithic culture in Viet Bac. That is Dong Tien cave site. The results of the exploration and study show that Dong Tien site includes a fairly thick cultural layer, with stone tools, fire vestiges and food remains of the prehistoric inhabitants. When comparing the collection of Dong lien site to the Hoa Binh cultural sites in the area, the author realized great similarity in terms of stone industry between Dong lien site and the sites of Dan Cun, Na Chao (Ha Giang) and Phia Vai (Tuyen Quang). That is a dramatic preservation of stone industry, with technical characteristics, typical types of Hoa Binh industry, forming a special local nuance of the Hoa Binh culture.

Archaeology of Vietnamese prehistoric caves - perception and orientations

The paper presents some perceptions and trends of archaeological studies of Vietnamese prehistoric caves. The study history of Vietnamese prehistoric caves has been divided into 2 stages: 1900-1945 and since 1945 up to now, approximately 300 cave sites in the Northern Vietnam have been found with Prehistoric human traces and archaeological cultures that lasted nearly half a million years. The finds of the fossils of Homo erectus, Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens sapiens in the cave sites in North Vietnam have confirmed that the evolution of human formation took place the most dramatically in the karst topology, from the late Pleistocene to Holocene, which was closely related to the changes of dry am cold climate into hot and humid one. So far, no traces of early Paleolithic culture have been found in the limestone caves. There are not lots of caves with Paleolithic remains typified by the Nguom industry and the Son Vi culture, dating from 30,000BP to 10,000BP. The most important event in Vietnamese Prehistory is the appearance of Hoa Binh and Bac Son cultures - the most typical cave cultures in Southeast Asia.

Bronze artifacts of Dong Son culture at Co Loa (Hanoi)

The historical area of Co Loa includes a lot of sites from various historical stages, of which there is an important historical stage - the Dong Son cultural stage. Eight sites from the Dong Son cultural stage have been found at Co Loa historical area with the types of settlement sites, settlement - workshop sites, warehouses, ramparts and holes for concealing wealth. The artifacts found from these places are rather rich in quantity, abundant and diversified in typology. The collection of bronze artifacts includes production tools, weapons, household items, ornaments, of which the weapons are the most in quantity. Especially, there are finds of the most typical and special artifacts of the Dong Son culture such as Co Loa drum, bronze cylindrical jars and vessels.

Bronze seal "Tai Y Yuan Yin"

According to the owner, "Tai Y Yuan Yin" (Chinese characters, meaning a seal of The Royal Medical Institute) is originated from Lam Kinh (Thanh Hoa). The seal consists of two parts: the knob and the body. The knob is cylindrical with round top, on the left there are two rows of characters "Tai Y Yuan Yin", meaning "Made by Shang Bao service", on the left, there is a row of Chinese characters "Guang Shao wu nian" (The fifth Quang Thieu year) (1520). The seal's surface is square with four Chinese characters "Tai Y Yuan Yin". It weighs 0.65kg; the side is 7.8cm long, 1.00cm thick; the knob is 7.40cm. The archaeological results at Lam Kinh have partly solved the provenance of "Tai Y Yuan Yin" seal with two possibilities: - A royal physician dropped the seal while he was walking, following the King from the dragon-boat berth to Lam Kinh; - At the end of the early Le dynasty, the Lam Son mountainous area became general headquarters of King Quang Thieu, and was possibly the place where the seal "Tai Y Yuan Yin" was found.

C14 - dates and the geo-archaeological evolution of the Northeast coastal area of Vietnam

By accessing the humane geo-ecology through the results of the geo-archaeological studies and C14 - dates of 10 archaeological sites, 18 sites of geological surveys, the author has outlined the development picture of the coastal geo-archaeology of the Northeast Vietnam from the late Pleistocene to 2,000BP.

Excavation at Bao Dong site (Can Gio district - Ho Chi Minh ctiy)

The Bao Dong site is located at Ly Hoa Hiep hamlet, Ly Nhon commune, Can Gio district (Ho Chi Minh city). The site was found and test - excavated by the Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh city in 1997. In 2000, the Museum of Vietnamese History, Ho Chi Minh city conducted an excavation at the Bao Dong site with four trenches and the total excavated area was in 100m2. The strata of the four trenches are the same, let alone the cultivative top layer and the sterile. The Bao Dong site includes a cultural layer that is l.4m thick. The artifacts in the cultural layer are mainly ceramics with the largest number. Apart from that, there are finds of areas, oysters, and snails, a fragment of wild boar bone and sea tortoise shell. The found sites include dark-dirt holes, burnt earthened foundation and a little ash. The preliminary study of the remains and artifacts that are mainly ceramics and the location of the Bao Dong site in the system of archaeological sites Can Gio district

Mummified burial inside Pasteur Institute (No.3 district, Ho Chi Minh city)

The raised architecture over the ground was nearly composed like a mausoleum, with the scale of 7m-9m length and the widest side was 5.2m. Along the axis from the front to the back, the architectures include a mummified block, a front screen; the front yard is confined with two front pillars and two back pillars, a stele house, a burial house and a back screen. They were all built with compound of lime, gravels, ceramics, shell, vegetable saps, molasses... The architectural decoratives include lotus-shaped bases, bar-relieves of phoenix couple and Nguu Mien (or Xi Van - Xi Vi), tubed tiles and the ends that were shaped very elegantly and sophisticateclly, in clear Vietnamese style of mausoleum architecture.

Tra Kieu - vestiges and issues

Evidently, G.Maspero (the author of the book Le Royaume de Champa (The Kingdom of Champa), Paris 1914, 1928) was the first who presented and located the Capitals of Champa. This is the reversal chronological order of the Capitals presented by him: a- The fourth Capital was Vijaya (11th-15th Centuries) or Pi Chey/Pho Che-Phat The at Cha Bal (Binh Dinh Province), where some vestiges of wall, tower, palace... have remained; b- The third Capital is called Indrapura as the name of the King Indravarman who built the Capital at Dong Dzuong, Quang Nam province, which is mentioned in the 2 inscriptions founded at Dong Dzuong; c- The second Capital was Virapura located undoubtedly in Phan Rang Province. The Dynasty/Kingdom was also called Huan Wang in ancient Chinese records, but the Maspero and other researchers previously had not been able to explain the place and its appellation. This issue is clear now (Luong Ninh 2005); d- Finally, the first Capital was Lin Yi, according to the ancient records. Lin Yi - the Centre of Xiang Lin district in Tien Xung. P. Pelliot and L.Aurousseau translated some parts of the records leading to some different hypotheses: Aurousseau affirmed that Lin Yi is Tien Xung that is Tra Kieu on the river side (Ba Ren or Thu Bon) and is called Sinhapura as far as the records are concerned. G. Maspero didn't confirm that, for him Sinhapura was only the port on the side of the river Sinhapura. The Capital might be Amendrapura, Kandarupura that was located in Quang Nam province, or at My Son or possibly at Tra Kieu. This controversy led to the excavation at Tra Kieu.