Vietnamese culture : Art - Overview, Periods
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Viettouch
Minh Bui
Overview
Western historians became interested in the pre-history of
Viet Nam around the turn of the 20th century. Their early
studies theorized that ancient civilization of South East
Asia, especially Viet Nam, was a product of Chinese and
Indian cultures as their cultural influence expanded
southward and eastward, hence the region was named
Indo-China. But in the past 40 years, Vietnamese
archaeologists have brought to light significant information
to present a more logical and coherent view of the
pre-historic Viet Nam. Based on recent excavations and
surveys, Vietnamese historians have established a chronology
of cultures originated in the Hong (Red) River valley from
the Paleolithic Age to the Neolithic Age through the Son Vi,
Hoa Binh, Bac Son, Quynh Van, Da But, Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau
and Go Mun culture. The Dong Son culture culminated the
Bronze Age and the opening stage of the Iron Age. This
culture represented the peak of the ancient civilization of
Viet Nam and the beginning formation of Van Lang/Au Lac, the
first unified nation under the Hu`ng kingdom.
Periods
Hoa Binh Culture:
By 12,000 BC, the pre-historic people of Viet Nam had
abandoned its nomadic life to settle in the Hong (Red) river
valley. They lived in caves and rock shelters close to water
streams and knew how to make rudimentary stoned tools made
in oval, circular or triangle shape with sharp edge. The
Hoabinians were mostly hunters but they also cultivated
plants to gather fruits and edible roots. This fact suggests
domestic cultivation may exist in South East Asia earlier
than in the Near East (Iraq) as many Western historians have
believed .
Bac Son Culture:
The Bac Son tools were significantly improved from the Hoa
Binh's as they were made with ground and polished stone.
Hand tools such as choppers and axes were used extensively
in hunting and plant cultivation. One important milestone of
the Bac Son culture was the introduction of pottery, even
though it was still very crude. The Bac Son society was
quite developed: Its people lived in tribes headed by a
female leader, usually an elder or experienced woman. Some
painting and marking found on the wall of their shelters
suggested the Bacsonians had an elementary number system
they used for counting and record keeping.
Quynh Van Culture:
About the same time of the Bac Son culture, there existed
another culture found along the coastal area of
North-Central Viet Nam (Nghe Tinh province). The Quynh Van
people subsisted mainly on maritime food. Archaeologists
have found remains of large fish bone suggesting seaborn
fishing had already developed at this time.
Phung Nguyen Culture:
Stone hand tools and weapons improved remarkably in both
quantity and variety. Pottery reached a higher level in
technique and decoration style. Many forms of craft also
existed such as fabric weaving, thread yarning, and rope
making. The Phung Nguyen people were mainly agriculturists,
they grew the wet rice Oryza, now became their main staple
diet. They grouped in communities settled along the large
rivers in Northern Viet Nam such as Hong, Da and Lo The
first appearance of bronze tools occurred in the later stage
of the Phung Nguyen period although these tools were still
rare.
Dong Dau and Go Mun Cultures:
Bronze replaced stone for about 40 percent of edged tools
and weapons, rising to about 60 percent in the Go Mun
culture. Here, there are not only bronze weapons, axes, and
personal ornaments, but also sickles and other agriculture
tools. Toward the closure of the Bronze Age, bronze accounts
for more than 90 percent of tools and weapons, and there are
exceptional rich graves-the burial places of powerful
chiefdoms-contained some hundred of ritual and personal
bronze artifacts such as musical instruments, bucket-shaped
ladles and ornament daggers.
Dong Son Culture:
Vietnamese historians have characterized Dong Son as the
formation period of the Vietnamese nation . This period is
closely identifiable with Van Lang, the first kingdom of
Viet Nam, and the 18 Kings Hung, its founders. The nation
was ruled with a royal dynasty and a professional
administrative class from the capital of Co Loa. The Dong
Son culture exerted great influence on its neighbor regions.
Historians have established important links from the Dong
Son culture with Tibeto-Burman culture, with Thai culture in
Yun-nam and Laos, and especially with the Mon-Khmer
cultures, particularly the Tran-ninh's Plain of Jars
plateau.
The archaeological material from the Dong Son period is very
rich, The Dong Son people were skilled agriculturalists,
they grew rice and kept buffaloes and pigs. They lived in
large huts close to the sea or river, which were built on
stilts to keep them clear at high water and had overhanging
saddle roofs. They were also skilled fishermen and bold
sailors, whose long dug-out canoes traversed all the China
sea. This explains both the wealth of their culture and the
expansion of their territory.
References:
Lich Su Viet Nam, Phan Huy Le
The Birth of Viet Nam, Keith Taylor, 1988
The Bronze Drums of Dong Son, Nguyen van Huyen et al.., 1989
Old Civilizations of the World
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