Excavation reveals reach of ancient culture

Tuoi Tre
Updated : Sun, April 17, 2011,8:10 AM (GMT+0700)

Archeologists who are excavating in the Tang River valley in the Truong Son Mountain area in central Vietnam have surprisingly found potteries, pot graves and other artifacts of the ancient Sa Huynh culture.
Until this excavation, which has been carried out by Quang Ngai General Museum and the Vietnam Archeology Institute since last December, Sa Huynh Culture, one of the three major ancient cultures in Vietnam besides Dong Son and Oc Eo, was thought to be limited to the coastal plains of central and south Vietnam.
However, the potteries and graves, which are mostly pot graves rather than jar graves as commonly found at other excavation sites of Sa Huynh Culture, convince archeologists that Sa Huynh Culture, which dated from 1,000 B.C to 200 A.D, covered different areas of different terrains.
“This shows Sa Huynh was a powerfully resilient culture,” archeologist Doan Ngoc Khoi of the excavation team said, explaining that to survive Sa Huynh people spread to coastal land, islands as well as mountains.
Khoi said some archeologists had considered this excavation a waste of time, believing Sa Huynh people couldn’t have lived on mountainous areas.
But Khoi said this excavation led to an even more important and interesting finding: Sa Huynh Cutlure in its earlier period moved from the Central Highlands through the Truong Son mountain range down to the plains.
In its later period, this culture moved in the opposite direction, from the plains up to the mountains.