A 2,300-year-old human skeleton is unearthed in HCM City’s Can Gio district. (Photo: nld.com.vn) According to specialists, the skeleton belongs to a 1.65m-tall man with highsocial ranking due to two animal fangs found on his neck.
The Giong Ca Vo archaeological site was discovered in 1993 and first excavated in1994.
The total area of the site is 29,000sq.m, the centre of which is located on ared soil mound, about 1.5m higher than the surrounding area and covers an areaof 7,000sq.m.
Prior to the discovery of the ancient skeleton, archaeologists have excavated185 burial jars and 13 earthen tombs, along with hundreds of precious relicsmade of various materials like precious stones, glass, and mollusks, at GiongCa Vo archaeological site.
Some relics have been discovered for the first time at the site, such asanimal-shaped earrings, three-pointed earrings or gold leaves, which containhistorical, cultural values and especially the history of formation anddevelopment of this land over 2,000 years ago.
The archaeologists have determined that the age of the archaeological site isfrom 2,500BC to the early AD years.
Excavation results also show that the central area of Giong Ca Vo is dividedinto three phases: residence, burial and modern farming.
Based on the study of anthropological characteristics of the artefacts, Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Lan Cuong, General Secretary of the Vietnam ArchaeologicalAssociation (VNAA), said that the area used to be occupied with indigenousgroups, mainly natives of Dong Nai culture, who had cultural exchanges with theoutside world.
Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Tong Trung Tin, Chairman of the VNAA, noted that thisis the first time Vietnamese archaeologists have discovered such a density ofburial jars at a relic site and the stratigraphic column is clarified with thecontinuous development from residence relics to burial relics.
He therefore requested HCM City and specialists to compile a dossier to submitto the Government to recognise Giong Ca Vo as a special national relic.
According to Dr Hsiao Chung Hung, anarchaeology expert from the Australian National University, the Giong Ca Voarchaeological site is an important prehistoric archaeological site not only inVietnam but also in Southeast Asia and Asia.
Located at the central point connecting the east and west, north and southregions, this site might have been a busy port and home to a large number ofcraftsmen and artisans about 2,500 years ago, as it is implied by the excavateditems.
It was recognised as a national archaeological relic that needs to be protectedin 2000 by the then Ministry of Culture and Information.
Currently, the artefacts excavated at the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site aredisplayed in a number of museums such as the National Museum of History in Hanoi,the Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City and the Museum of Southern Historyand Culture./.
VNA
