Far East Kingdoms

Early Vietnam

Palaeolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The system which has evolved to catalogue the various archaeological expressions of human progress is one which involves cultures. For well over a century, archaeological cultures have remained the framework for global prehistory. The earliest cultures which emerge from Africa and the Near East are perhaps the easiest to catalogue, right up until human expansion reaches the Americas. The task of cataloguing that vast range of human cultures is covered in the related feature (see link, right).

Human history in Asia as a whole provides one of the earliest stories outside of the Near East and Africa, However, framed to the north by East Asia and to the west by South Asia, human history in South-East Asia is relatively obscure. It was South Asia which witnessed the earliest presence of anatomically modern humans in the form of Homo sapiens - between about 70,000-60,000 BC. From there they either drifted into South-East Asia and Oceania or, around 60,000 BC, entered East Asia (see the Hominid Chronology feature link for more).

Evidence of human habitation in caves in north-eastern Vietnam's Ba Be National Park were announced in 2020, having been dated to about 18,000 BC. With these finds belonging to the Palaeolithic South-East Asian Son Vi culture, Vietnam's earliest named culture, most of the finds were found in Tham Kit Cave. They included stone tools, traces of an oven, and animal teeth and bones. Importantly, the cave is near a lake, so early humans there would have had access to water.

Relatively little is known about Vietnamese origins. They first appeared in history as the so-called 'Lac' peoples who lived in the Red River delta region in what is now northern Vietnam. Some scholars have suggested that the Lac were closely related to other peoples, known as the Viet (referred to as the Yue by the Chinese, and somewhat questionable according to some modern scholars), who inhabited the coastal region of East Asia from the Yangtze to the Red River delta during the 1st millennium BC.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Traces of early humans found in Ba Be National Park (Vietnam Plus), and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Encyclopaedia Britannica.)

Son Vi Culture (Palaeolithic) (Vietnam)
c.20,000 - 12,000 BC

Palaeolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Son Vi was the earliest South-East Asian culture which is specific to the Vietnam region. It emerged during the later stage of Palaeolithic South-East Asia, during its last eight thousand years before it gave way to the Mesolithic.

Evidence of human habitation in caves in north-eastern Vietnam's Ba Be National Park were announced in 2020, having been dated to about 18,000 BC. With these finds belonging firmly to the early Son Vi, most of them came from Tham Kit Cave. They included stone tools, traces of an oven, and animal teeth and bones. Importantly, this residential cave is near a lake, so early humans there would have had access to water. These hunter-gatherers harvested many local species, including wild boar, bison, monkey, and porcupine.

Con Moong Cave in the central province of Thanh Hoa provides another detailed glimpse of prehistoric human life here, with traces of long habitation which can be linked to the Son Vi, the Hoabinhian, the Bac Son, and the Da But. This sequence seems to have ended with the arrival of dedicated rice farming as part of the Phung-nguyen culture. The Son Vi was succeeded by the Hoabinhian culture, with people continuing to live in their various caves in the same area as before, although a tribal or clan-based structure seems to have emerged towards the end of the Palaeolithic period.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Traces of early humans found in Ba Be National Park (Vietnam Plus), and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel).)

c.18,000 BC

Evidence of human habitation in caves in north-eastern Vietnam's Ba Be National Park are announced in 2020. With these finds belonging to Palaeolithic South-East Asia's Son Vi culture - the first local culture in Early Vietnam - most of the finds are found in Tham Kit Cave.

They include stone tools, traces of an oven, and animal teeth and bones. Importantly, the cave is near a lake - and fifty metres above it - so early humans there have access to water.

Tham Kit Cave in Vietnam yielded many tools which had been knapped from stones, and one single layer of culture which was fifty centimetres thick which had been formed by clay inside the cave and which contained ancient objects, bones, and the teeth of animals

Hoabinhian Culture (Palaeolithic / Mesolithic) (Vietnam)
c.12,000 - 10,000 BC

Palaeolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Hoabinhian culture (or Hoa Binh) succeeded Palaeolithic South-East Asia's Son Vi culture in Vietnam, and also much farther afield across South-East Asia. For at least part of its duration it existed alongside the Anyathian complex. The latter was to be found in areas of Upper Burma, while details of the the Hoabinhian bear similarities with finds in eastern Burma.

Excavators have found stone artefacts from this culture in Vietnam's Tham Mya Cave (close to Tham Kit Cave which was inhabited during the Son Vi), along with ceramic objects of the later Bronze Age. Con Moong Cave in the central province of Thanh Hoa provides another detailed glimpse of prehistoric human life here, with traces of long habitation which can be linked to the Son Vi, the Hoabinhian, the Bac Son, and the Da But. This sequence seems to have ended with the arrival of dedicated rice farming as part of the Phung-nguyen culture.

Finds for this hunter-gatherer culture show improvements over finds for the preceding culture, including stone axes and other tools which were created using animal bones, plus shells, and wood and bamboo use. In addition to hunting game, its people also showed signs of coming into contact with seeds and pollen, signs of the early commencement of basic farming methods. The Hoabinhian segued into the Bac Son culture which very much was a progression rather than a replacement.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Traces of early humans found in Ba Be National Park (Vietnam Plus), and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel).)

Bac Son Culture (Neolithic) (Vietnam)
c.10,000 - 8000 BC

Mesolithic & Neolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Bac Son culture succeeded the Mesolithic Hoabinhian culture in Vietnam and father afield across South-East Asia. This culture was more of a progression than a replacement, with the early stages of wet-rice farming leaving archaeological traces. In some modern scholarly circles the Bac Son has been classed as a late stage of the Hoabinhian rather than a culture in its own right.

Bac Son is a rural district of today's Lạng Sơn province in the north-eastern region of Vietnam, located some one hundred-and-sixty kilometres to the north of Hanoi. This valley features high mountains and low valleys, the latter of which are rich with paddy fields and also the traditional stilt houses of the ethnic Tay people who occupy the valley today. Apart from its Neolithic advances in stone tool technology, the Bac Son is also remarkable for its Bac Son sacred seals. According to archaeologists, the seals were made from Schiste rock, each one averaging at a length of between eight to fifteen centimetres, and coming in the form of a long, small, slightly flat pebble, on one or two thin edges, with two fairly even parallel grooves.

Con Moong Cave in the central province of Thanh Hoa provides another detailed glimpse of prehistoric human life here, with traces of long habitation which can be linked to the Son Vi, the Hoabinhian, the Bac Son, and the Da But. This sequence seems to have ended with the arrival of dedicated rice farming as part of the Phung-nguyen culture. The Bac Son was succeeded by the Quynh Van culture.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel), and Bac Son Tours, and Bac Son Seal (Lang Son News).)

Quynh Van Culture (Pre-Neolithic) (Vietnam)
c.8000 - 6000 BC

Mesolithic & Neolithic Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Quynh Van culture succeeded Vietnam's Neolithic Bac Son culture in South-East Asia. Like the Bac Son, it has been referred to as a late period extension of the earlier Hoabinhian. Quynh Van chronology remains unclear though. Lithic artefacts show affinities with the later Da But culture but the pottery is different.

French archaeologist Madeleine Colani first excavated the archaeological shell mound of Quynh Van in the 1930s. This is the type site for this pre-Neolithic culture. Further investigations in 1963 and 1964 demonstrated that the site comprised a five metre-high shell mound of predominantly window-pane oyster shells (Placuna placenta), and concentrations of ash, charcoal, and the characteristic paddle-impressed Quynh Van pottery with a pointed base.

The site also produced thirty-one flexed or crouched burials, without grave goods, one of at least twenty-one other Quynh Van sites on the coastal plains of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. All sites are formed from Placuna shell mounds of various remaining heights. There was a reshaping of economic and settlement strategies during the opening of the Neolithic period. People went from hunter-gatherer occupation in caves and on shell mounds to sedentary settlement, located in riverine situations with access to good alluvial farmland, and along the coast. The Quynh Van provides a window onto that transition.

The Quynh was succeeded by the Da But culture, although finds so far suggest that this only appeared after a two thousand year gap during which the less advanced Tolean became prominent in southern areas of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and The Quynh Van culture of central Vietnam (Science Direct).)

Da But Culture (Neolithic) (Vietnam)
c.4000 - 3000 BC

Fifth & Fourth Millennium BC Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The South-East Asian Da But culture succeeded the Neolithic Quynh Van culture in Vietnam. Con Moong Cave in the central province of Thanh Hoa displays the late stages of prehistoric human cave dwelling in this period, with traces of long habitation which can be linked to the Son Vi, the Hoabinhian, the Bac Son, and the Da But. This sequence seems to have ended by or before the arrival of dedicated rice farming as part of the Phung-nguyen culture, which could be a factor in some scholars framing the Bac Son and Da But as late periods of the Hoabinhian rather than as cultures in their own right.

However, the Da But did exhibit differences from the Hoabinhian and Bac Son. The type site was first excavated in 1926-1927 by the French geologist, E Patte, but by 2022 a total of eight Da But sites had been discovered. These included a series which displayed similar cultural components: at Go Trung, Con Co Ngua, Ban Thuy, and Lang Cong. Culture sites are recognisable through their distinctive pottery, polished stone tools, and a unique adaptation to coastal swamp and lake areas.

The Da But is also considered by many scholars to be unique due to its divergence from an inland Hoabinhian-type subsistence strategy in favour of a new, complex coastal strategy which took place in various and varied environmental niches: the aforementioned swamps and lakes, mainly at the bases of mountains, and deltas with embankments (otherwise known as levees) which extended to the sea. Based on present knowledge, the distribution of the Da But culture is limited to the northern and southern sides of the Tam Diep limestone massif in Thanh Hoa and Ninh Binh provinces.

In later stages of the Da But culture, stone tools became smaller and polished on all surfaces. This resulted in some of the earliest complete, polished quadrangular tools in Vietnam, at about 3500-3000 BC, shortly before the culture began to be succeeded by the Phung-nguyen. Da But populations subsisted mainly by collecting plants and hunting. However, they were relatively sedentary, with long-term, permanent residences being established as open air settlements in place of cave dwellings. The best evidence for a sedentary existence for these people is the presence of cemeteries.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Separated by a Common Language, and The Da But Culture (Semantic Scholar).)

c.3029 BC

According to legend, the first ruler of the Vietnamese people is De Minh, a descendant of a mythical Chinese ruler who is the father of Chinese agriculture. De Minh and an immortal fairy of the mountains produce Kinh Duong, ruler of the 'Land of Red Demons', who marries the daughter of the 'Dragon Lord of the Sea'.

In today's Vietnam, 'Hung Kings Commemoration Day' is determined by the lunar calendar so that, on 10 March, people enjoy a day off to commemorate the legendary Hung Kings

According to legend, their son (or grandson), Lac Long Quan ('Dragon Lord of Lac'), is the first truly Vietnamese king. Lac Long Quan's eldest son succeeds him as the first of the Hung (or Hong Bang) kings ('vuong') of Vietnam's first dynasty.

c.2500 - 1000 BC

A vast trading network operates in Vietnam during this period. A number of settlements along the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam around Rach Nui are part of a significant network which manufactures and circulates large volumes of items over hundreds of kilometres of territory.

A 2017 study proves the existence of this previously unknown major trade network which also includes specialist tool-makers and technological knowledge.

The Rach Nui region has no stone resources, so its people must import the stone and work it to produce their tools. A quarry located over eighty kilometres away in the upper reaches of the Dong Nai river valley provides a perfect supplier for this resource.

A new study, led by researcher Dr Catherine J Frieman of the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology, revealed in 2017 findings showing a number of settlements along the Mekong delta region of southern Vietnam which were part of a significant trading network

Phung-nguyen Culture (Neolithic Farmers / Early Bronze Age) (Vietnam)
c.2000 - 1400 BC
Incorporating Dong Dau Culture

Third & Second Millennium BC Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Late Neolithic period in South-East Asia saw the rise of the first true farming cultures in the region, following influence reaching the region from the rest of Asia, especially Early China. Around 2000 BC, Chinese rice and millet farmers spread southwards into a region which stretched between today's Vietnam and Burma. There, they interbred with local hunter-gatherers in two main pulses, with the first of these taking place from the first contact. Those hunter-gatherers already had a tentative level of experience with early forms of farming.

In 2017 a team led by Harvard Medical School geneticist, Mark Lipson, concluded that these population movements brought true agriculture into the region and triggered the spread of Austroasiatic languages which are still spoken in parts of south and South-East Asia.

Archaeology has already accumulated increasing amounts of evidence to support the emergence of rice farming in South-East Asia between 2500-2000 BC, accompanied by tools and pottery which revealed links to southern China. Now the Phung-nguyen culture arose to replace the defunct Da But culture, with it being centred on the Vinh Phu province of Vietnam. The change seems to have occurred towards the end of the long practice of cave-dwelling, with living in coastal villages now becoming the norm (during the Da But period).

Con Moong Cave in the central province of Thanh Hoa has provided a detailed glimpse of human life before this period, with traces of habitation which can be linked across many cultures going back as far as the Son Vi. The archaeological type site of Phung Nguyen was discovered in 1958, eighteen kilometres to the east of Viet Tri. It, like other sites which have been discovered later, sits on a raised platform which is several metres higher than the surrounding land.

The Dong Dau culture (circa 1500-1000 BC) is often classified as a late phase of the Phung-nguyen, with parallel markings appearing on pottery and bronze castings which contained about twenty percent tin. In time these were succeeded in the north by the Go Mun culture and then the Dong Son culture, and in the centre and south by the Sa Huỳnh culture.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel).)

c.1700 BC

Archaeology for the Phung-nguyen culture shows that burial customs change around this time, coinciding with the introduction of silk-making and legendary recordings of the appearance of the militaristic Xich Ty people in the north. Their 'invasion' of the equally mythical Van Lang kingdom forces it to address its own recently-fading authority, and to reinvigorate itself in order to repulse this invasion, which it does.

Phung-nguyen culture pots were typically flat-bottomed, with the culture as a whole showing influences or links with southern China

c.1300 BC

The Middle Bronze Age Dong Dau culture provides the historical people of the mythical Van Lang kingdom with strong influences when it comes to ceramics production. Pottery which forms part of this culture includes parallel markings which are absent on pottery from the recently-faded Phung-nguyen culture, although the Dong Dau is sometimes classified as a late phase of the Phung-nguyen.

Go Mun Culture (Bronze Age) (Vietnam)
c.1200 - 600 BC

Third & Second Millennium BC Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Go Mun culture succeeded the Phung-nguyen and its late-phase Dong Dau culture shortly before the start of the first millennium BC. This is another of those Vietnamese cultures which can be linked to the Van Lang kingdom and its mythical ruling Hung dynasty of the third-to-first millennia BC.

The 1961 archaeological type site for the culture is located in northern Vietnam: Dong Dau village, Yen Lac town, Yen Lac district, Vinh Phuc province. The culture provides the country's third phase of the Bronze Age, with it being a continuation of the Phung-nguyen and Dong Dau.

Finds exhibit a range of bronze tools, weapons, and ornaments, along with polished stone adzes which are sometimes not as well made as earlier stone tools thanks to production interest and standards gradually seeming to wane. Bone artefacts have also been found at many archaeological sites. Pottery was diverse in type and in terms of decorative motifs, with the latter including waves, tablatures, concentric circles, and other forms. Bronze tools, such as arrows, were discovered at many sites, revealing the preference of the Dong Dau people for bronze tools, which allowed them to be more productive.

Those very bronze tools included hooks, arrows, and lances, showing that they were gradually becoming more necessary and more important for working. Ceramic products developed, showing improved application of diverse printed and embossed patterns. With the progress being made in terms of bronze tools, Go Mun people gradually established a degree of control over natural forces, so that they were able to master the Red River delta, laying the foundations for the development of the subsequent Dong Son culture.

In fact, this culture initially ran parallel to the long-lived Dong Son before eventually being succeeded by it. Dating here is preferred, but can be given alternatively as about 1100-800 BC, shortening its influence and reach between the end of the Phung-nguyen and the early period Dong Son.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Pre-Dong Son cultures (Vietnam National Museum of History).)

Dong Son Culture (Bronze Age) (Vietnam)
c.1200 - 1 BC

Third & Second Millennium BC Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Phung-nguyen culture of Vietnam faded in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BC, gradually to be replaced in the north by the Bronze Age Go Mun culture which itself provided a Bronze Age basis for the Dong Son culture (or Dongson). In the south and centre the Phung-nguyen was succeeded by the longer-lasting Sa Huỳnh culture. The development of the Dong Son was driven by the adoption of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in the Ma River and Red River plains and the further development of those industries. The culture was notable for its elaborate bronze drums.

Bronze weapons, tools, and drums from archaeological sites for this culture show a South-East Asian influence which indicates an indigenous origin for this bronze-casting technology, rather than it being imported from elsewhere. Many small, ancient copper mine sites have been found in northern Vietnam. Some similarities between Dong Sonian sites and other South-East Asian sites include the presence of boat-shaped coffins and burial jars, stilt dwellings, and evidence of customs which involve betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening.

Dong Son culture is associated with the Van Lang kingdom and its mythical ruling Hung dynasty of the third-to-first millennia BC. It inherited its bronze casting technology from the earlier Dong Dau culture. An important aspect of this culture by the sixth century BC was the tidal irrigation of rice fields through an elaborate system of canals and dikes. The fields were called 'Lac' fields and 'Lac', mentioned in Chinese annals, is the earliest recorded name for the Vietnamese people.

The Hung kings ruled Van Lang in feudal fashion with the aid of the Lac lords, who controlled the communal settlements around each irrigated area, organised the construction and maintenance of the dykes, and regulated the supply of water. Besides cultivating rice, the people of Van Lang grew other forms of grain and beans, and raised stock, mainly buffalo, chickens, and pigs. Pottery-making and bamboo-working were highly developed crafts, as were basketry, leather-working, and the weaving of hemp, jute, and silk. Both transport and communication were provided by dugout canoes, which plied the network of rivers and canals.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel).)

c.600s BC

Dong Son culture is now firmly based on wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting along the River Ma and in the Red River delta. This is the golden age for bronze tools in Vietnam. Archaeological evidences comprises bronze weapons, tools, now-iconic bronze drums, and a copper mine. Locals have customs which include betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening.

The main form of subsistence is agriculture with the use of buffalo traction and irrigation. Besides this, breeding, fishing, and handicrafts are also being developed. Stone tools have completely disappeared from daily life.

The people of the Dong Son formed a loose confederation of societies which occupied northern Vietnam, with villages typically being located in the deltas of the Hong, Ma, and Ca rivers

c.550 BC

An important aspect of the Van Lang region's Dong Son culture by the sixth century BC is the tidal irrigation of rice fields through an elaborate system of canals and dikes. The fields are known as 'Lac' fields and 'Lac', mentioned in Chinese annals, is the earliest recorded name for the Vietnamese people.

c.300 - 200 BC

The northern province of Bac Ninh is where a Dong Son bronze jar is discovered and preserved. Later recognised as a national treasure, it is a typical product of this culture, or at least its later stages. Based on its shape, the processing technique used to create it, and its decorative patterns, it is placed in the late Dong Son, one of two hundred-and-thirty-five jars (to date) to be found with decorative patterns of moving animals on its body.

Sa Huỳnh Culture (Bronze Age / Iron Age) (Vietnam)
c.1000 BC - AD 200

Third & Second Millennium BC Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The Phung-nguyen culture of Vietnam faded in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries BC, gradually to be replaced in the south and centre of Vietnam by the Bronze Age Sa Huỳnh culture and in the north first by the Go Mun culture and then by the Dong Son culture. The development of both of the latter two was driven by the adoption of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting. For the Sa Huỳnh the focus of its spread lay between Quảng Bình province in central Vietnam and the Mekong delta in the south.

The type site site at Sa Huỳnh was discovered in 1909. This and other sites of the culture have generally been found to be rich in locally-worked iron artefacts which are typified by finds of axes, swords, spearheads, knives, and sickles. The people of this culture were much more heavily invested in iron-working than were those of the Dong Son.

Internments involved cremation and then burial of the ashes in jars which were covered by a lid. Ritually-broken offerings usually accompanied the jar burials. This culture is also typified by its unique ear ornaments which feature two-headed animals, with some scholarly opinion classifying the animals as saola, a regionally-unique animal which is something of a cross between a deer and a cow. Cultural ornaments were commonly made using jade or glass. Bead ornaments have also commonly been found in Sa Huỳnh burials, with these usually being made from glass.

By the time the culture faded around the beginning of the third century AD, early historical Vietnam had already emerged. Kingdoms such as Annam and Nam Viet had been ended by a phase of Han Chinese dominance, but the kings of a renewed Nam Viet took Vietnam out of the fading Iron Age and into the medieval period. To the south of the Sa Huỳnh, the Óc Eo culture flourished as the archaeological expression of the kingdom of Funan.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Pre-Dong Son cultures (Vietnam National Museum of History).)

Óc Eo Culture (Iron Age) (Vietnam)
c.AD 1 - 630
Incorporating the Dong Nai Culture (c.500 - 1 BC)

First Millennium BC/AD Cultures Early Africa (Intro) Early Americas (Intro) Early Asia (Intro) Early China (Intro) Early Europe (Intro) Early Near East (Intro) Early Oceania (Intro)

The South-East Asian Óc Eo culture flourished for over half a millennium in the far south of Vietnam, in part alongside the more northerly Sa Huỳnh culture during the first two centuries AD. Located in the Mekong delta, this region was dominated by Khmer people. Its archaeological culture is tied closely to the little-known kingdom of Funan which bordered Champa. Its type site - first excavated in 1942 - was the kingdom's main port between the second century BC and the twelfth century AD.

The region is dominated by an ancient network of canals which crisscross the flatlands around the delta. One canal stretches sixty-eight kilometres to connect the port to the Angkor Borei district of today's Cambodia. This is thought to have been the kingdom's capital, just inside Cambodia's modern border with Vietnam. However, with excavations only having begun in 1996, more work is needed to provide any concrete confirmation.

Óc Eo culture sites are sprinkled across the southern regions of Vietnam, but are at their heaviest around the Mekong delta in the far south. Finds from the type site include pottery, tools, jewellery, jewellery production casts, coins, and religious statues. Remarkably, some jewellery imitates Roman empire coins of the Antonine second century AD period, probably due to a recorded diplomatic connection with China in this period.

The Dong Nai Iron Age culture is classified as a proto-Óc Eo phase, lasting between about 500-1 BC. It was located in the lower basin of the River Dong Nai. Iron tools and weapons of various types have been found, mainly in burial jars at Dong Nai archaeological sites.

The people of this culture lived for the most part in stilt-houses, and they were good at iron metallurgy, making jewellery and pottery. In particular, their jewellery, which was made of glass, gemstones, and gold, reflected the development of their economy, culture, and traditional customs, as well as cultural exchanges with surrounding Dong Nai people. This culture provided a direct starting point for the Óc Eo and the kingdom of Funan within an early historical Vietnam.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Pre-Dong Son cultures (Vietnam National Museum of History).)