More than 28,400 artefacts unearthed at six excavation sites in the Son La Hydro-electricity Plant reservoir construction site have been handed over to the Dien Bien Museum .
The objects, unearthed by Vietnam Archaeology Institute graduates, have been identified as being from the Palaeolithic (around 20,000 years ago) to the Neolithic (3,000-4,000 years ago) eras. They were found at Huoi So and Tua Thang communes and Muong Lay town in Dien Bien district.
They include simple tools like stone pestles, mortars, and ceramic objects.
Institute Professor Nguyen Khac Su said that judging from the groups of objects, they came from tribes living in connected groups along the Da River.
From an initial scattered social network, the so-called Son Vi culture was formed in the north of Vietnam, he said. Son Vi culture (20,000-12,000BC) is the name given to the Upper Palaeolithic tradition of highland Vietnam.
The Upper or late Palaeolithic era is the most recent of the three periods in the Palaeolithic era, (about 40,000 to 14,000 years ago) when modern humans first appeared.
Su said further study of the relics would identify specific cultural features of the region as well as the process of development in prehistoric cultures in the north of Vietnam in the context of other civilisations in Vietnam, south China and Southeast Asia .
The project of excavating and moving objects from the sites in the Son La Hydroelectricity Plant's reservoir was implemented in the north-western provinces of Dien Bien, Son La and Lai Chau. The Dien Bien project was the first to be completed.
Source: Nhan Dan [August 19, 2010]