Based on economic exploitation
According to the results of archaeological excavations in Quang Nam - Da Nang in the 80s of the 20th century, archaeologists said that about 6,000 years ago, there were ancient people living in the Bau Du mound area, Phu Binh hamlet, Phu Trung village, Tam Xuan I commune, Nui Thanh district.
Bau Du is also a rare relic of the Neolithic era in Quang Nam - Da Nang. The ancient people of Bau Du had the habit of dumping mollusk shells into piles. Over many generations, these wastes, along with sand and soil, have accumulated into cultural layers.
Studying the relics found in the cultural layer, archaeologists believe that the ancient residents of Bau Du mainly lived on the natural exploitation economy. The natural landscape was very favorable for their livelihood. In addition to the readily available and easily exploited mollusks, they had a lot of experience in catching fish in rivers and seas.
In particular, they were able to catch large fish that lived in deep seas, including dugongs. This certainly shows that they knew how to make rafts or dugout canoes to go out to sea.
Besides the main food source of seafood, the ancient people of Bau Du also hunted wild animals living in grasslands, swamps and forests.
Through preliminary geological research, animal bone and tooth identification and pollen spore analysis, archaeologists have partially reconstructed the ancient landscape of the Tam Xuan area when the ancient Bau Du people lived.
It is the estuary, coastal area, where the forest and the sea meet.
There are grasslands and swamps here, which are suitable habitats for herbivores such as deer, buffalo, cows and rhinoceroses. Only two species of monkeys and mountain goats live in the western hills.
The vegetation of this area is salt-loving plants. The forest is not far from the sea, there are many starch-providing trees such as bung bang, trees with edible seeds such as chestnut, lai, jackfruit, various types of yam, taro...
The stone relics collected during the exploration and excavation were of cobble origin, along with slate and some poor quality sedimentary rocks.
According to archaeologists, the stone tools collected in Bau Du are very similar to the stone tools of Hoa Binh culture in terms of type and manufacturing technique.
However, the material of Bau Du stone tools is not as good as Hoa Binh. This reflects the different living environments. The ancient people of Hoa Binh lived in limestone mountains with many river pebbles, while the ancient people of Bau Du lived in coastal estuaries where pebbles are very rare.
The first owner of the coastal area
Through excavations, many ancient human remains were discovered. Research on the current state of the remains in the excavation pits showed that the graves were buried in a knee-bending position in scallop pits, surrounded by a few stone tools and small pieces of stone to mark the graves. This shows that the ancient people of Bau Du were conscious of burying their dead.
Regarding ancient human remains, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong, based on the structure of teeth, characteristics of skull and limb bones, it can be seen that the life expectancy of ancient Bau Du people was not high, only about 50 years old.
Regarding racial characteristics, based on comparison, based on the Q-mode correlation coefficient, it shows that the Bau Du ancient skull is closest to the ancient skulls of Hoa Binh culture, which are the ancient skulls of Mai Da Dieu in Thanh Hoa, and Hang Cho in Hoa Binh with the features of the Australoid race.
The results of previous explorations and excavations as well as based on the C14 radioactive analysis method of previously found charcoal ash pieces indicate that Bau Du dates back to about 5030±60 years BC.
Based on the characteristics of tools and burial methods, Professor Tran Quoc Vuong classified Bau Du into the Neolithic period, but as "Prepottery-neolithic".
Some researchers believe that the ancient Bau Du people were late Hoa Binh people in the Central region who came out to exploit the coastal environment and coastal islands. They were able to survive and develop there and became one of the first owners in the coastal areas of Vietnam.
Or maybe they were part of the ancient people of the early stage of Quynh Van culture (on the coast of Nghe An - Ha Tinh, dating back about 4,500 years ago).
Following the late Neolithic cultural trail from Quynh Van (Nghe An) to Bau Tro (Quang Binh) and Bau Du (Quang Nam), it can be seen that the development from the "Scalp Islet" culture in the late Neolithic to the early metal age - pre-Sa Huynh is a very long and quite continuous process in the coastal area from North to South Central.
On the path of development, each culture has its own characteristics and different levels of development. But there are still direct or indirect relationships, which can be seen in the late stage of the Neolithic Age, in which the jar tombs of Bau Tro culture are considered the beginning of the jar tomb style in Sa Huynh culture - the early stage of the Metal Age in Central Vietnam...
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