BBK - Bac Kan Provincial Museum has just coordinated with a survey team from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences to conduct an archaeological survey and discover some prehistoric relics at Tham Un cave, in Ban Pjac village, Quang Khe commune (Ba Be).
 |
Exploration excavation team at Tham Un cave |
The remains are mainly stone, pottery and bone - dating back about 8,000 to 10,000 years.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Trinh Nang Chung, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, based on the traces left inside the cave, the relic has a single cultural layer about 50cm thick, with a rather porous structure, formed by dark gray clay in the cave containing relics, archaeological artifacts mixed with mollusk shells and animal bones and teeth. The excavation has discovered traces of 2 ancient kitchens in the cultural layer and hundreds of stone relics. Pottery was found in the upper layer, no burial traces have been discovered.
All stone tools were crafted from river pebbles, created with a rudimentary chiseling technique, a simple type typical of early Neolithic tools dating from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Notably, there was an artifact crafted from a thin, flat, long quadrilateral piece of stone with a hole drilled at one end, possibly an ornament worn around the neck. This type of artifact is rare in prehistoric sites in our country.
Traces of animal bones and teeth and shells of snails are remnants of ancient people's food and evidence of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of primitive people in Tham Un cave.
The pottery fragments found in the upper layer have the characteristics of Bronze Age pottery with high firing temperature, quite thin ceramic body, fine rope patterns, dated from about 2,500 to 3,000 years ago. Some fragments have traces of black smoke stuck to them, proving that the pottery was used for cooking.
Overall research results show that Tham Un Cave is a prehistoric cultural relic of many generations of residents. The earliest residents belonged to the early Neolithic period, dating back about 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Then there was a local earthquake that caused many large rocks on the cave ceiling to fall, forcing the residents at that time to leave for other places. About 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, residents of the Bronze Age came to live here and left behind ceramic relics in the cave.
 |
Some relics at Tham Un cave |
Tham Un Cave is about 15m above the foot of the mountain. The large arched cave entrance faces east to south. The cave area is about 100m2. Most of the cave area receives natural light. Currently, on the surface of the cave, there are many large rocks falling from the ceiling, evidence of past seismic fluctuations. This phenomenon has been seen quite commonly in some caves in the Northeast mountains.
During the survey in Ba Be, the survey team also discovered some other prehistoric relics at Nam Lu cave in Hoang Tri commune and Tham Pan cave in Quang Khe commune. Bac Kan Provincial Museum is continuing to coordinate to develop a plan to conduct more in-depth research on these locations in the near future./.
Source link
Comment (0)