Dong Son culture

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Prehistoric cultures of Vietnam
Old Stone Age
Dieu culture approx. 30,000 BC Chr.
Sơn Vi culture 20,000–12,000 BC Chr.
Mesolithic
Hòa Bình culture 12,000-10,000 BC Chr.
Neolithic
Bắc-Sơn culture 9,000-5,000 BC Chr.
Quỳnh Văn culture 3,000–1 BC Chr.
Đa Bút culture 4,000-1,700 BC Chr.
Bronze age
Phùng Nguyên culture 2,000-1,500 BC Chr.
Đồng-Đậu culture 1,500–1,000 BC Chr.
Gò-Mun culture 1,000–700 BC Chr.
Đông-Sơn culture 800 BC Chr. – 200 AD
Iron age
Sa Huỳnh culture 500 BC Chr. – 100 AD
Óc-Eo culture A.D. 1-630
Typical bronze drum of the Dong Son culture from Luobowan tomb No. 1
Engraving on the Ngoc Lu bronze drum, Vietnam

The Dong Son culture ( Vietnamese Văn hóa Đông Sơn ) existed from around 800 BC. BC to AD 200 in northern Vietnam and southern China. It marks the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in South Asia.

The Dong Son culture had its core area in the valleys of the Hong , Ma and Ca rivers . In the north it is attested beyond the border of today's Vietnam, in the south as far as Quảng Bình .

The Dong Son culture is characterized by a large number of different bronze objects. Their typical artifacts (often very elaborately designed objects made of bronze ) can be found far into Oceania , where they probably came through trade. There are bronze plows, axes, weapons and ornate bronze vessels. The bulbous Dong-Son drums , bronze drums , of which over 200 are known to date, are particularly typical . A specimen found in East Timor in 2015 weighed 80 kg and was estimated to be 2000 years old. Iron was also known. Weapons, tools and jewelry were found.

The ceramic is rather simple and usually shows an impressed string motif on the outside.

Settlements are mostly close to rivers and are comparatively small, from 100 m² to one hectare in size. Cemeteries are located separately from the settlements. The dead were usually buried as body burials in wooden coffins (which were often made from boats) with grave goods.

Rice cultivation was the basis of the economy. The bronzes of the Dong Son culture were found in southern China and in the area of ​​the Sa Huynh culture . They prove trade relationships.

Vietnamese historians often associate the Dong-Son culture with the Kingdom of Văn Lang, which is passed down from Vietnamese traditions . Colonial archaeologists believed that the technique of bronze casting had been adopted from China. Today's archaeologists tend to assume an independent origin on the Southeast Asian mainland.

literature

  • Pham Minh Huyen: The Metal age in the North of Vietnam. In Ian Glover, Peter Bellwood (Eds.): Southeast Asia. From prehistory to history. Routledge Shorton, London a. a. 2004, ISBN 0-415-29777-X , pp. 195-201.
  • John Villiers : Southeast Asia before the colonial era (= Fischer World History. Vol. 18). 64th - 65th thousand. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-60018-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tambor Dong Son vietnamita com cerca de 2000 anos found in Timor-Leste . sapo.pt, November 18, 2015; Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bruce Lockhart, William J. Duiker: Historical Dictionary of Vietnam . Oxford, 2006, pp. 112f

Web links

Commons : Dong Son culture  - collection of images, videos and audio files