Stone Age Sites in Thai Nguyen

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

NGUYEN DUC THANG

STONE AGE SITES IN THAI NGUYEN

The work is completed in:

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Supervisor: 1. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Nang Chung 2. Dr. Nguyen Gia Doi

Reviewer No.1: Reviewer No.2: LIST OF PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO THE AUTHOR’S THESIS 1. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2011), Về bộ sưu tập rìu, bôn mới phát hiện ở Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2011, Hà Nội, tr.70. 2. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2012), Phát hiện di tích hang động tiền sử ở huyện Phú Lương, Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2012, Hà Nội, tr.70 - 71. 3. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2012), Chiếc xẻng đá lớn ở Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2012, Hà Nội, tr.133 . 4. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2013), Di tích hang Thủng, huyện Phú Lương, Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2013, Hà Nội, tr.95 - 96. 5. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2014a), Kỹ nghệ Ngườm” trong nền khảo cổ học Thái Nguyên và những vấn đề nghiên cứu đặt ra, Tạp chí Khoa học và công nghệ, Tập 118, số 04, tr.27 - 31. 6. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2014b), Phát hiện di tích hang động thời tiền sử ở xã La Hiên, huyện Võ Nhai, tỉnh Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2014, Nxb KHXH, Hà Nội, tr.82-83. 7. Nguyễn Đức Thắng, Trình Năng Chung (2014), Đào thám sát hang Kim Sơn, tỉnh Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2014, Nxb KHXH, Hà Nội, tr.86-87. 8. Nguyễn Đức Thắng - Nguyễn Quang Miên (2014), Về các kết quả đo tuổi Carbon phòng xạ năm 2014, tại Thái Nguyên, NPHM VKCH năm 2014, Hà Nội, tr.137-138. 9. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2015a), Di tích thời đồ đá ở Thái Nguyên sau 34 năm phát hiện và nghiên cứu, Tạp chí Văn hóa Nghệ thuật, số 01 - 2015, tr.33 - 35. 10. Nguyễn Đức Thắng (2015b), Kỹ nghệ Ngườm - văn hóa Bắc Sơn những mối quan hệ, Khảo cổ học, số 4, tr.3 - 18.

PREFACE

1.NECESSITY OF THE THESIS 1.1. Although prehistoric archaeology of Thai Nguyen province has been known since 1925, it was not until last decades the of 20th century, when Nguom rocksheltersite was discovered, the domestic and foreign archaeologists have really paid particular attention to this area. Up to this time, there are 30 archaeological sites of Stone Age excavated in Thai Nguyen province. Thai Nguyen prehistoric archaeology, however, has not been studied sufficiently and systematically yet. 1.2.From 2011 to the present time, fortunately, the author have had opportunities to participate directly archaeological investigations with a number of new discoveries, and excavated many new sites providing initial achievements for studying them. With a view to contributing to the better knowledge of characteristics of Thai Nguyen Stone Age and their contributions to Viet Nam prehistoric culture, author has chosen the theme " Stone Agesitesin Thai Nguyen" as the doctoral thesis in history - archaeological major. 2.PURPOSE OF THE THESIS 2.1.Gathering and systematizing documents and research results about Stone Agesites in the area of Thai Nguyen province from the past to present day, through which the author aim to provide sufficient, objective information for researchers about Thai Nguyen Stone Age. 2.2.Based on systematizing documents of Stone Agesites, the thesis is going to study stages of development of Thai Nguyen Stone Age and their contribution to Viet Nam prehistoric culture. 2.3.Initially sketching out evolutionary process of prehistoric culture in Thai Nguyen, implementing documents and knowledge in

1 compiling local history that enriches features for Thai Nguyen museum's exhibitions. 3.OBJECTSAND SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH 3.1. The main objects of research are, archaeological sites and artifacts belonging to Thai Nguyen Stone Age. - Reports of investigations, archaeological excavations, research works published in the books and journals in archaeology, and other relevant books such as geology, palaeontology, ethnography...etc. which relates to Thai Nguyen province. - The thesis also refers to the documents about the cultural sites belong to Stone Age in the neighboring provinces and the important research works in archaeology in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and South China relating to the thesis. 3.2. The specific scope that the thesis delves deeply into is to determine essential characteristics of culturalsites belonging to the Stone Age in Thai Nguyen. The thesis also initially addresses the relationship between the Thai Nguyen Stone Ageand other prehistoric cultures in neighboring region. 4 .RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1. The theoretical and methodological basis of the thesis is based on traditional archaeological methods such as classifying, describing cultural remains and artifacts;in which the author concentrates on analyzing typology and tool-making techniques. The thesis pay special attention to comparative studies in order to find the relationship among assemblages. 4.2. The thesis also employs maltidisciplinary research approachs such as geology, geography, paleoanthropology, palaeobiontology...etc; utilizes results of natural science researches such as absolute dating, human and animal bone assessment...and applies dialectical materialism and historical methodology in studying prehistoric society.

2 5. NEW CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THESIS 5.1. The thesis is first monograph about culturalsites of Thai Nguyen Stone Age. The significant contributions of the thesis are that the author has gathered, systematized, analyzed and classified completely culturel remainsof theStone Agein Thai Nguyen. 5.2. Preliminarily presenting basic charateristics of cultural remains, dates, stages of development of Thai Nguyen Stone Age, helping to bring out evolutionary process of the prehistoric culture in Thai Nguyen and relationship with the prehistoric culture in neighboring regions. 5.3. The results of the research are going to provide more documents for Thai Nguyen museum's exhibitions, help to compile local history, planing, protection and promotion of Thai Nguyen prehistoric cultural sites and support teaching at the university where the author is working. 6.STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS The thesis is organized into 4 chapters (153 pages), excluding the introduction (4 pages) and the conclusion (3 pages). Chapter 1: Overview of the data(32 pages) Chapter 2: Cultural sites of the Stone Agein Thai Nguyen (52 pages) Chapter 3: Basic characteristics of archaeologicel sites and artifacts; its dates and development stages of Thai Nguyen Stone Age(41 pages). Chapter 4: The relationship between the Thai nguyen Stone Age culturalsites in a broadercontext. Several features settlement and subsistence pattern of the Stone Age in habitants in the region. (21 pages) Besides, the thesis also contains a list of pictorial illustrations, bibliography (168 materials in Vietnnamese, 8 in English and French, 4 in china ) and appendices.

3 CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW OF THE DOCUMENT

1.1. Generalization of natural conditions in Thai Nguyen Province 1.1.1. Geographic location, change of administrative names in historical sequence. In general, Thai nguyen is a midland and mountainous province in northeast region of Vietnam and has an area of 3541,67 square kilometer in total.In historical process, the administrative names and boders of Thai Nguyen had changedsignificantly. Nowadays, Thai Nguyen province has a population of 1.173.238 people, including eight ethnic groups living together in harmony 1.1.2. Natural conditions 1.1.2.1. Tectonic history of Thai Nguyen province Most of Thai Nguyen territory was formed and developed in Mesozoic Era.Around 67 MYA Thai Nguyen territory existedin form of continuous during 50 million years continent;terrain is leveled and gradually formed tablelandin forun of continuons. Because of powerfully tectonic movement at round,25 million years ago, Thai Nguyen terrain was up lifted, range from 200m to 500m depending on positions. The regions in which geographic layer was uplifted and splited. 1.1.2.2. Topography Thai nguyen is a midland and mountainous province which, on average, is about 200m - 300m above sea level with the main topography of hill and low moutain running and lowering award frorn north to south, and gradually. There are 4 main groups of topography here and 15 types of natural landscapes.At the end of Pleistocen, generally,the terrain of Thai Nguyen was the same as today. 1.1.3. Climate Thai Nguyen climate was created by high temperature of the tropic zone and seasonal circulation of atmosphere. Associated with

4 it, specific conditions of geography formed hot, wet climatic condition including monsoon, rainy season and annual cold winter which is quite irregular. 1.1.4. Hydrology The river system in Thai Nguyen is quite dense. Most areas of territory belong to Cau river system, with on average, 0.39kilometer of river per 1km2; Cong river system - 1.2km of river/km2; Nghinh Tuong - 1.05 of river/km2. 1.1.5.Animals and plants Since most areas of Thai Nguyen is under 600 ms above sea level, the forest here is tropical moist forest. Acoording to the statistic of Thai Nguyen monographic book, in regard to flora, there are 21 families, 32 genera and 53 species including both angiosperm and gymnosperm. With regard to fauna, there are 422 species, 91 familics and 28 genera of 4 classes: bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian. 1.2. History of archaeological discoveries and researches of Thai Nguyen Stone Age. The history of archaeological discoveries and researches of Thai Nguyen Stone Age is divided in 3 periods. a. First period(1924 – 1926):This period is regarded as laying the foundations for researching prehistoric culture in Thai Nguyen. The French archaeologists discovered 4 archaeo logical sites in Bac Son: Khac Kiem, Nghinh Tac, Na Ca, Ky. Those archaeological discoveries initially signaled a potential of exploring culturalsites of prehistoric people in Thai Nguyen. b. Second period(1972 – 1998): In this period, Vietnamese archaeologists had conducted many field projects, investigations, and excavated in Than sa. One of the significant achievement was the discovery of more than 10 new sites, in which there exists Nguom rocksheltersites.The discovery of Nguom rockshelter, a site of the Paleolithic with flaked tool word industry as a representative, has

5 contributed to changing awareness of Vietnamese prehistoric culture in paticular and ofSoutheast Asia in general. In this period, there were many publications mentioning discoveries and researches of Thai Nguyen archaeology, especially of Nguom industry. c. Third period(2011- present time): In 2011, Archaeological Institute and Thai Nguyen Museum carried out a survery at two districts,Vo Nhai and Dong Hy. The team then discovered 10 more new sites in these two districts. From 2012 to now, the author has carried out many fieldworks and dicovered 10 new sites in three districts: Vo Nhai, Dong Hy and Phu Luong. They provided author a large number of valuable information in studying culturalsites of Thai Nguyen Stone Age. 1.3. Conclusion of chapter 1 - Chapter 1 presented the history of tectonic activity, topography, climate, hydrology, animals and plants in Thai Nguyen. From the natural conditions shown above, we may conclude that Thai Nguyen had favourable natural conditions for prehistoric people to occupation. - The history of archaeological discoveries and researches of Thai Nguyen Stone Age is divided in 3 periods: first period (1924 – 1971), second period (1972 – 2000), and third period (2001- present time). The archaeological discoveries and researches of Thai Nguyen Stone Age helped to reveal many new cultaralsites and has raised several issues that need to be addressed as follows: (1) Systematizing and clarifying charecteristics of culturalsites of Thai Nguyen Stone Age. (2) Studying the development stages in Thai Nguyen Stone Age. (3) Initially enlightening the features of Thai Nguyen Stone Age.

6 CHAPTER 2 CULTURAL SITES OF THE STONE AGE IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE

Up to this time, there are 30 sites belonging to different stages of the Stone Age discovered in Thai Nguyen.In order to present culturalsites of the Stone Age well, the author have chosen typical sites satisfying the conditions for studying stratigraphic materials, representative collections which help to determine the stages of Thai Nguyen Stone Age such as Nguom, Mieng Ho, Tham Choong, Kim Son, Hang Oc, Hang Thung, Hang Than...etc 2.1. Sites belonging to the PalaeolithicAge: So far, there are 7 sites of the palaeolithic Age discovered in Thai Nguyen. When studying archaeological sites of the PaleolithicAgediscovered in Thai Nguyen, archaeologists often classify them according to two ways of the stone knapping techniqueflaked – tool industryin which Nguom industry as representative, and the pebble cored – tool industryin which Tham Chong site is as representative. 2.1.1.Archaeo logical sites belonging tothe flaked – tool industry According to researchers, there are two sites belonging to the flaked – tool industryin Thai Nguyen, that is, Nguom rockshelter (1stlayer) and Mieng Ho cave.In the thesis, author is going to present carefully the history of explorations and excavationsof these two sites. In the summary, the author is pleased to choose Nguom rockshelter site as representative. - Nguom rockshelter site In march 1980, Nguom rocksheltersite was officially discovered. From 1981 to 1982, a total of 56 square meters of area was excavatedthere.

7 Through excavations at Nguom, archaeologists found 24.635stone artifacts along with bone, ceramic artifacts, faunal and burials. In the excavated trench at Nguom, cultural deposits reached 1,45 meters in thickness, which is divided into three consecutive layers. First layer (earliest and deepest) dates about 23.000 -30.000 years ago,in which small flake toolsaccount for majority of them whereas pebble cored tools for minority. Semi - fossilifed animal bones includes extinction spicies such as Pongo sp. In this period, the flaked – tool industry presented the most specific characteristic; the pebble – core toolindustry had not affected yet. The typical Nguom industry just appeared only in Nguom I. In the second cultural layer (middle), daties about 23.000 - 18.000 years ago, the number of small flake tools decreased sharply. On the contrary, pebble cored toolsincreased significantly and had several features of the pebble tool tradition similar to the ones in Son Vi- Hoa Binh industries. This is considered as a phase of the decline of Nguom flaked - toolindustry. The third cultural layer (latest) dates about 18.000 years ago. Although small flake tools still existed, they no longer exibited specific characteristic of Nguom industry, whilepebble cored tools, in stead, had superior features. According to archaeologists’ perspective, the development of Nguom industryis integration to the pebble cored tool industry with other places in the region in later period. In the thesis, the author presents their developments and cultural features based on vertical cross section of stratum sedimentary layers in Nguom, which show that the direction of cultural change is upward (figure 2) 2.1.2. The sites belonging to the pebble cored tool industry According to research, there are 5 sites belonging to the pebble cored tool industry in Thai Nguyen province, having dates of the late

8 Palaeolithis Age, there are, Tham Choong, Na Ngun, Na Khu, Tham Hau caves and open – ari site on Than Sa river-terrace. In the thesis, the author also choose specific sitesassocitating with well - presurved stratum, typical collections such as Tham Choong, Na Ngun, Tham Hau…etc. The characteristics of these sites is that caltural layer was formed in the late Pleistocenewhere animal bonesare subfossils or fossils. The dates of Tham Choong, Na Ngun, Tham Hau, Na Khu in and caves Than Sa river-terrace site are entirely determined by the charateristics of the stone artifaets and relative dates evaluated by former researchers. In those collections, tools are very crude,and amorphons in shapewithout typical tools of Hoa Binh and Bac Son culture. Some of them are close to Son Vi culture tools. The pebble cored tool industryof thelate palaeolithisin Thai Nguyen has style of the big tool - tradition, not belong to Nguom flaked tool industry. Carrying out surveys of Nguom rockshelter showed that thepebble tool industryof Thai Nguyenappeared later than the Nguom industry. 2.2. The sites belonging to theNeolithicAge 2.2.1. The sites belonging to the early Neolithic Up to now, according to archaeologists’ research results, the are 20 sites of this stage and artifacts discovered in Thai Nguyen, including Caves and rockshelter such as: Oc, Kim Son, Khac Kiem, Na Ca, Ho, Than, Thung, Nghing Tac, Ky, Ha Son 1, Ha Son II, Dan Meo, Ca,Trau, Na Vat, Phuong Hoang, Chua, Sa Va, Nguom layer II, Khe Sui. In this thesis, the author presents 8 typical sites excavated or investigated, there are, Oc, Kim Son, Con Ho, Khac Kiem, Na Ca, Than, Thung, Nginh Tac caves In this sammary, the author is pleased to mention the Oc cave as representative as followed.

9 In march 2011, archaeological institute and Thai Nguyen museum discovered Oc cave. In march 2015, archaeological institute and Thai Nguyen museumcarried out the excavation at this site. - Cultural layer are quite indentical, without clear interface and has non-uniform thickness. The deepest position is 1.3 meters below the surface, accounting for 1/3 area of excavation trench. The rest accounts for 2/3 area, having about 0.5m -0.75 in depth. The bed - rock surfaceis uneven, sloping from inside to the entrance. - Animal remains includes mammal bones, and molluscous shells. In total, there are 435 pieces of bones. The result of inspection indicated that they belong to extant genera such as: stag, deere, muntjac, rhinoceros, turtle, bear, pig and fish. Molluscous shells are numerous, in which freshwater snail shells are majority. - Total number of excavated stone artifactsare more than 2500 pieces. Until now, archaeologists have researchad in detail 1519 pieces. Archaeologists divides the lithic assemblageinto several major groups,comprising: (I) – group of Son Vi style, including: end – choppes, side - choppers, convergence edge - tools, hoof-shaped tools, double edge-tool and amophous choppers. (II) – group of Hoa Binh style, including: oval-shaped tools, dise shaped tools, trapezium-shaped toosl and short axes. (III) - group of flaked tools, including cutting tools and serapers made of: flakes or splitted pebbles. (IV) – group of grounded tools, including: edge – ground axes, complete – polished axes and blanks. (V)-group of worked pebbles, VI – group of cores and flakes. VII – group of grinding storg pestles, motars and “Bac Son marks”. Researching stratigraphic prafile, cultural remains, archaeologists ranked Oc cave as the site of Neolithic Age, belonging to the Bac Son culture. The C14 shows thatsites date back about 6000-7000 years ago.

10 - Apart from 8 sites presented in the thesis, there are 13 more other locations containing sites of the early Neolithic period. That is the sites: Ky, Ha Son I, Ha Son II, Dan Meo, Ca,Trau, Na Vat,Phuong Hoang, Chua, Sa Va, Nguom III, Khe Sui, Ran caves. Among those above sites, only Kycavewas discovered by French in the 20s of the last century. The rests were explored by Vietnamese archaeologists. General characteristics of the sites of this period is that the cultural layer were formed during the Holocens, the animal remains belong to modern species. In regard to the collections of stone artifact, by internalizing the tools from Paleolithic, many new types with the popularity of pebble - spilitted technique and particular grinding technique appeared in Neolithic period, these are edge – groun axes (Bac Son axe), “ Bac Son mark”. At the sites such as: Than, Kim Son, Ha Son I, Ha Son II, Dan Meo, Ca, Trau, Na Vat, Phuong Hoang, Chua, Sa Va, Khe Sui, Ran caves, althought edge – ground axe and “Bac Son mark” have not found yet, their stone artifacts comprises forms of dish-shaped tools, oval-shaped tool, short axes similar to the early Neolithic assembdages mentioned above. Based on the C14 dating ofKim Son, Than, Thung, the earlyNeolithi in Thai Nguyen period dates back to about 11,000 - 6,000 years ago. 2.2.2. The sites belonging to the late Neolithic . Until now, there are not many pure sites belonging to the late Neolithic period discovered, just only three sites such as: Suam Son, Ong trucand Lien Minh. General characteristic of the Suam Sonand Ong truccavesis that their cutural layersare thin and rare of, artifacts. Notably, the collection comprises well polished rectangular shaped and potteries. In addition, excavators also found artifacts of the late Neolithic period in Nguom rockshelter, Nghinh Tac, Na Khu, Na Ca, Na Vat, caves with gound-edge axes and pieces of coarse pottery.

11 2.3. Conclusion of chapter 2 Among 30 sites belonging to the Thai Nguyen Stone Age, there are 7 sites dating back to the late Paleolithic times, 20 sites to early Neolithic and 3 sites comprising artifacts of late Neolithic period. The culturalsites of the Thai Nguyen late Paleolithic belong to two seperated industries, these areflaked - tool industry with Nguom I and Mieng Ho as representative, and pebble – cored tool industry with Tham Choong-Na Ngun as representative. Analysis of archaeological materials, especially Nguom rockshelter, indicated that notable features of technique and typology had created special industry: Nguom industry. The characteristics of this industry is retouchedflake tools, with the common types such as cutting tools, scrapers, pointed tools…etc. The knapping technique associated with the natural pebbles while cores with prepaired plat formarerare. Nguom industry has specific characteristics which are different to pebble – cored tool indystry like Son Vi- Hoa Binh industry. In the early Neolithic period, Thai Nguyen regio was occupied eoy Bac Son cultureinhabitants (20 sites). The archaeological materials from the sitesindicated that Bac Son culture’s distributs was quite common in this area. In terms of technical features and stone artifact types, there is a combination between two tech nical traditions: pebble – cored tool tradion and large flaked tool tradition which contributed to creating the appearance of Bac Son culture in Thai Nguyen limestone region. In the late neolithic, although only 3 new sites were discovered, in many sites of Thai Nguyen prehistoric caves, archaeologists have discovered a number of cases in which their layers contain sites in the late Neolithic period - the early metalic period.

12 CHAPTER 3 BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURALSITES, MONUMENTS, DATES AND DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF THAI NGUYEN STONE AGE

3.1. Characteristic of sites and remains In total there 23 per 30 sites concentrated in the Vo Nhai district belonging to periods of Paleolithic and Neolithic, proving that the consecutive process of living of ancient people in Vo Nha rocky mountain. The sites of the early and late Neolithic pericd which mainly belong to Bac Son culture was widely distributed in 3 districts such as: Vo Nhai, Phu Luong, Dong Hy, of which there were 16 sites in Vo Nhai itself. This shows that the Neolithic people still lived mainly in original areas of Nguom residents,in the Than Sa region, and from there, they spread throughout the limestone mountainous regions in 3 districts of Vo Nhai, Phu Luong and Dong Hy. The cave androckshelter sites in Thai Nguyen have average or quite small size. According to the statistics, there are 5 caves having area greater than 500m2 - 600m2 (accounting for 20%), 3 rock shelter caves with area of 150m2 (accounting for 12%), only 1 cave with area of 100m2 (accounting for 4%). The area of the rest (16 caves) is approximately 30m2 (accounting for 64%). The caves, rockshelters in Thai Nguyen are distributed in variety levels. The statistics show that there are 21 sites having average altitude of 50m or less (accounting for 84%), 3 sites lower than 100m (accounting for 12%), 1 sites higher than 100m (accounting for 4%). Particularly, there is acave named Phuong Hoang that is as high as 195 m above the valley. The directions of thecave entranceare usuallynorthwest or southeast (accounting for more than 80%). The rest often are west or east. The choice caves with these directions is probably due to the

13 topography of large mountain ranges in the province, named Ngan Son, Bac Son which run in northwest - southeast direction. Cultural layers of the Neolithic sites in Thai Nguyen are usually not too thick with loose combination and often be distubed. According to statistics, among13sites were excavated and inrestigated, the cultural layers are estimated toaverage 40cm - 50cm in thickness. The thickest cutural layer areNguom (1,45 m) and Khac Kiem (1,3 m), the rest ones are about 50cm - 70cm. There is even a layer with thickness of 15cm-20cm. The fire placesexposed from the sites are usually dark brown ashes lying in cultural layers. Inside the fire places, there are usually snail shells, flakes, burnedanimal bones and fired large rocks. Among the total number of all 30 sites in Thai Nguyen, 3 sitescontain burials induding, Nguom rockshelter, Ho, and Khac Kiem caves. The other human bones found in Thai Nguyen belong to the early Neolithic period with racial features of Proto - Mélanésien or Mélanésien. The results of researches are quite consistent with researches of Bac Son culture published by previous archaeologists. The palaeontological remains have been studied: Nguom, Mieng Ho, Ha Son I, Ranh and Na Ma rockshelters. The studied animal remains belong to the late Pleistocens- early Holocens. The molluscous remains are quite plentiful and popular. Mollus cous shells mostly are mountainous snails and spring snails.. Floralremains are presented mainly by results of analyfing several pollen from Than Sa site. 3.2. Characteristics of artifacts 3.2.1. Characteristics of stone tools - Raw materials The Thai Nguyen Stone Ageinhabitants usually used pebbles from river and spring for tool making. Lithic analysis showed Than Sa ancient inhabitants mainly used type of rocks induding, acid tuff;

14 quartz schist; quartz, tuffaceous siltstone; tuffaceous rhyolite; volcanic glass. - Lithic making techniques: When discussing on techniques for making stone tools in Thai Nguyen Stone Age, we need to distingush the diffrencies between Nguom technique and pebble – cored tools technique. + Flaked tool making technique: with Nguom rockshelter (first layer) and Mieng Ho are representative. Characteristics of this technique is small flaked tools which are retonched on edges. The flaking and splitting technique was employed on natural pebbles. The flake retouched technique includes both directly percussions and pressing. + Pebble – cored tool technique: persents at the latePaleolithicAge (Tham choong, Na Ngun, Na Khu, Tham Hau,Than Sa). This technique were popular for one side, one face and one direction in chippping. Beside, there exists the teching of splitting and breaking methods on natural pebbles. - Types of stone tool: Types of stone tools with Nguom industry include: Group of flake tools divided into 2 sub-types: pointed tools and scrapers. Pebble - tool group with typical characteristics is amorphons in shapes. In the Neolithic period: apart from the existance of chipped tools some type of artifacts appeared such as edge – ground axes and “Bac Son mark”. 3.2.2. Potteries: Until now, archaelogists discovered more than 50 pieces of potteries in the surface layer of the Stone Agesites in Thai Nguyen. The researchers said that those pieces date back to the late Neolithic - early Bronfe Age, usually seen in the Northern mountainous caves of our country.

15 3.3. Dating and development stages Up to now, among the total number of 30 sites in Thai Nguyen, 5 siteswith13 samples were determined to radiocarbon dates. Those are Nguom rockshelter (4 samples), Oc(6 samples), Kim Son, Thungand Than caves (each with1 sample). In addition,for most of thesites of the Stone Age in Thai Nguyen, the archaeologists often use comparative studies to determine the relative dating for each sites The reason for dividing development stages in Thai Nguyen Stone Age primarily based on the following criteria: cultural stratigraphic materials, paleontology documents, absolute and relative dates, and characteristics of artifacts in which stone tools are majority. It can be divided into 3 stages, as follows: - Stage 1: there are 7 monuments with two industries, that is, flake tool industry including Nguom I, Mieng Ho and pebble – cored tool industry including Tham Choong, Na Ngun, Tham Hau, Na Khu and the open – site on Than Sa river-bank. The stage belongs to the late Palaeo lithic. - Stage 2: There are 20 locations, including the following sites: Oc, Than, Kim Son, Nghinh Tac, Khac Kiem, Na ca, Ky, Ha Son I, Ha Son II, Dan Meo, Con Ho, Ca,Trau, Na Vat, Phuong Hoang, Chua, Sa Va, Khe Sui, Ran caves. The stage belongs to the early Neolithic. - Stage 3:There are 3 locations, including Ong Truc, Suam Son, Lien Minh caves. Apart from this, on the surface layer ofNguom rockshelter, Nghinh Tac, Na Khu, Na Ca, Na Vat caves, archaeologists also found artifacts of late Neolithic such as well - polished stone axes and coarse potteries. 3.4. Conclusion of chapter 3 - This chapter analyzes basic characteristics of the sites and artifacts and determines the stages of development of Thai Nguyen Stone Age.

16 With regard to sites, the author presents characteristics of sites’s distribution, settlement features, structure of cultural layers, fire places, burialsand ancient human bones, fauna and flora population. In regard to artifacts, the thesis was concentrated to analyze technical characteristics and types of tool in both industries, such as, Nguom flaked tool industry and Tham choong - Na Ngun pebble – cored tool industry. The thesis also indicates features of Bac Son artifacts in the stone collections of Thai Nguyen early Neolithic. Based on stratigraphic documents, cultural features and absolute dating sequence, we can divide the culturad relics in Thai Nguyen Stone Age into three groups corresponding to three consecutive stages of development: LatePaleolithic - early Neolithic - late Neolithic. Researches of the trend in cultural evolution from culturalsites in Thai Nguyen Stone Age indicate the evolution of Nguom industry is integrating process with pebble – tool industry existed in the region. This is not a single linear flow, but complex effects, mutual influences which are complementary to each other, between Nguom flake tool tradition and the one of pebble – tool tradition, that contribute to form Bac Son culture in Vo Nhai - Bac Son mountainous region.

17 CHAPTER 4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE THAI NGUYEN STONE AGE CULTURALSITES IN CONTEXT AND SEVERAL FEATURES OF LIFE OF RESIDENTS IN THE THAI NGUYEN STONE AGE

4.1.The relationship between the Thai Nguyen Stone Agesites in a wider context. 4.1.1. The relation to sites belonging to the late Paleolithic. 4.1.1.1. The relation to the late Paleolithic in Viet Nam In the thesis, the author mentions the relationship between Nguom industry and Son Vi culture and believes that Son Vi and Nguom came from different origins, but to be able to have mutual interactions and may coexist for a time. When mentioning the relationship between Nguom industry and chopper method in Thai Nguyen, the author suggests that it is possible that they are two different traditional industries and their owners most likely also belong to different ethnic groups without the same culture and technology. 4.1.1.2. The relation to the late Paleolithic in Southeast Asia and south China. The thesis presents the findings of Vietnamese scholars on the relationship between Nguom technique and Lang Rongrien industry (Thailand) and Bach Lien Dong (south China). The evidences found in Nguom, Lang Rongrien and Bach Lien Dong contribute to prove the existence of the flaked tool industry in Southeast Asia continent, dating back between the late Pleistocene and early Holoceneperion, developing in parallel with pebble – cored tool industry in Southeast Asian peninsula. The thesis also mentions several hypotheses on the origin of the Nguom industry. According to current materials, the author strongly concur with the idea of researcher Nguyen Gia Doi who

18 claimed that because of abrupt change of the cold climate, the Nguom industry's owners, used to live in south China, had to move to North Viet Nam, creating Nguom industry. 4.1.2. The relation to the early Neolithic - Bac Son culture Based on comparision of the characteristics of cultural relics belonging to early Neolithic in Thai Nguyen with the ones in Hoa Binh, Bac Son, the author posit that the presence of Hoa Binh culture is unclear, even though this area is in the region of Bac Son culture. The cultural sites in Thai Nguyen bear strong relation to characteristics of Bac Son culture. 4.1.3. The relation to the late Neolithic in the North ern mountainous areas in VietNam and neighboring region. The archaeology document of Thai Nguyen indicated that emerging the relationship between Thai Nguyen ancient residents and the ones of Ha Giang and Ha Long cultures. In addition, there are evidences of relationship between Thai Nguyen contemporary residents and ancient residents in south china. 4.2. Several features about life of Stone Age residents in Thai Nguyen In the thesis, the author refers to the ecological environment of the Thai Nguyen Stone Age residents from late Paleolithic to Neolithic - Regarding economic activity: The main economic activities are based on the mode of hunting and gathering. The small wild animals are main objects hunted by Thai Nguyen prehistoric inhabitants. Because of specific characteristics of environment and landscape, there are many rivers and streams there, which led the gathering of mollusk common. There is no true evidence of breeding and cultivation of the Stone Age in Thai Nguyen. Based on literature of the economic activities of Bac Son habitants, the author hypothesized that hunting and gathering is the main economic activities of Thai Nguyen Stone

19 Age residents. In the turn of the early Neolithic period, however, the economic activities of Bac Son habitants in Thai Nguyen region might comprise primitive breeding and cultivation, associated with several advanced techniques, in which grinding technique and axes with the edges ground. - Regarding to social organization and spiritual life: the residents in Thai Nguyen Stone Age resided mainly in caves, each of which is the lives of a small communities, with close relationship with entire large communities at the time.Collective labor organization for living are considered basic labor methods of the Stone Age residents. There was a natural division of labor by sexes and by ages in the prehistoric inhabitants. Moreover, the collective nature of hunting and foraging, and the reliance members of the group had to place on each other, meant that no one person could take a disproportionate share of the food. As a result, all members of a group shared more or less equally . Based on archaeological literatures, we can presume that, in the turn of Neolithic, Thai Nguyen prehistoric people had consciously sought explanations for mysterious phenomena of nature. The owner of Bac Son culture in the Nguom rockshelter (layer III), Khac Kiem,Ho caveshad have concept of the afterlife, the life and death. In that context, the premitive belief ritual was born, manifestly obvious in the case of burying the dead. At the sites of Na Caand Ky caves, archaeologists have found some pebbles engraved human faces on their surfaces. Some was found traces of engraving on rock in Nghinh Tac cave. From many researchers' perspective, those are the works of visual art of prehistoric people. 4.3. Conclusion of chapter4 In this chapter, the author explored the cutural relationship between Thai Nguyen Stone Age culturalsites and prehistoric

20 cultures in the region, and preliminarilyoutlined several features about the life of ancient people in Thai Nguyen Stone Age. Since Thai Nguyen prehistoric culturerare an organic part of the general culture in Vietnam and adjacent areas, the author, with the existing literature, has tried to find out the relationship between culturalsites belonging to Thai Nguyen Stone Age in a lroader context, including prehistoric cultures of the northern mountainous regions in Vietnam and relate to Stone Age cultures in southeast Asia, south China. The thesis also outline some features about the life of residents in Thai Nguyen Stone Age through aspects of social organization, division of labor, the way of sharing food. Preliminarily, the thesis also mention the spiritual life of Thai Nguyen prehistoric residents though burial rites and primitive visual art.

21 CONCLUSION

1. With 30 sites of the Stone Age were discovered and studied, so far we have been aware of that Thai Nguyen is the land for survival and development of prehistoric humans. The most ancient traces of human beings in Thai Nguyen region, known so far, are the sites of late Paleolithic in Nguom rockshelter, Mieng Ho cave...etc, associated with paleontological populations in the late Pleistocen, dating back about 30,000 years ago. This shows that Thai Nguyen is one the areas primarily inhabited by primitive humans. 2. The sites and artifact in Thai Nguyen Stone Age play important role in studying prehistoric culture in northen mountainous areas in Vietnam. The results of researches showed that, in the Stone Age, there is no place in our country in which cultural features are as rich and special as the ones in Thai Nguyen. The typical feature there is exhibited by sites belonging to Nguom flaked tool industry and pebble – tool industry. In regard with Nguom industry, we can confirm that in the late Pleistocence, approximately 30,000 to 23,000 years ago, there was existed technique of flake tools in Vietnam. The discovery has provided Vietnamese and Southeast Asia archeologists revolutionary awareness about culture in the late PaleolithicAge in the region. It is one of the important contributions to the collection of prehistoric culture of Thai Nguyen as well as Vietnam and Southeast Asia. 3. In the turn of the Neolithic, the discovery of 20 early Neolithic sites, most belonging to Bac Son culture system, is a great contribution to our awarness of Thai Nguyen prehistoric culture in particular as well as Vietnamese prehistoric culture in general. The presence of Bac Son culture in Thai Nguyen region is considered as a corollary of the combination in long-term, complexity, overlap between tradition of flake tool industry and pebble - tool industry. It

22 had formed a kind of Bac Son culture of rocky region Than Sa- Thuong Nung, with specific nuances, creating the appearance, regional identity, reflecting the diversity in unity of Bac Son famous culture. 4. Progressing into the late Neolithic period, even though there are not many culturalsites of Thai Nguyen prehistoric people discovered, in this stage, industries of shaping stone tool and creating potteries had developed to the peak and this became the region where existed the interaction of many cultures: Ha Giang culture in the Northern region, Ha Long culture in Northeastern coastal, and even South China. In summary, with the discoveries and archaeological researches in nearly a century in Thai Nguyen, the picture of prehistoric culture has gradually been identified with the basic cultural values: Thai Nguyen is an ancient land, having a long age- old history, with consecutive development of cultural and open relationship with the surrounding areas. Prehistoric residents there were always open to external cultures, enriching Thai Nguyen cultural identity, and contributing to the prehistoric culture in Vietnam and the region. 5.The potential of the prehistoric cultural heritage in Thai Nguyen is enormous. It is necessary to be invested, explored, searched, preserved and developed. What we have learned about the past of our ancestors is actually still very modest compared to the archaeological artifacts currently existing underground . Thought the research achievements of Thai Nguyen prehistoric age was significant, they are just preliminary results, there are many issues needed to be clarified in the future. We have to continue the basic inspections, explore prehistoric sites, implement and enrich literatures of prehistoric age which are insufficient, such as Son Vi culture, middle Neolithic culture, early Dong Son culture, late Dong Son culture....It is required to have plans for conserving

23 sites excavated or inspected such as Nguom rockshelter, Oc, Khac Kiem caves...We should gradually establish scientific dossiers ranking sites in provincial or national level so that we are able to preserve and promote their values. It is necessary to strengthen propagandizing, educating cultural heritage law to community, mobilize the masses to protect and preserve historic and cultural sites. In regard with Nguom rockshelter, Mieng Ho cave recognized as national archaeological sites in 1982, we also constantly enhance conservating and developing cultural and historic values of the precious heritage. Currently, the economic development of tourism is dramatically increased in Thai Nguyen. In order to exploit the potential of tourism efficiently in long-term, we should combine economic interests with preservation properly, and enhance historic values of cultural heritages in Thai Nguyen province.