Central ancient caves hide secrets of the past

Findings from two recent excavations in central Thanh Hoa province show the development of stone tools by early cave dwellers and their adaptation to climate change, according to scientists.
Findings from two recent excavations in central Thanh Hoa province showthe development of stone tools by early cave dwellers and theiradaptation to climate change, according to scientists.

The excavations were completed last month by scientists from theVietnam Archaeology Institute and the Russian Academy of Science at ConMoong and Diem caves in Thach Thanh district.

"Wefound many animal bones, [snail, crab] shells and quartz-stone workingtools in a 14 square metre excavation pit at Con Moong cave," ProfessorNguyen Khac Su, a member of the excavation team, told Viet Nam News."The 10 different layers of soil down to 9.5 metres in depth containtraces of early humans who lived between 60,000 and 7,000 years ago.This is one of the most intact and thickest continuously settled soilstructure found at any site in Southeast Asia."

Susaid that sandwiched in the layers, fragments of bones and shellsindicated changes in global climate and the adaptation of techniques forshaping stone tools. In some layers there were remains of animals thatlived in hot weather and in other layers, there were traces of animalsthat lived in cold weather. There were also shells and bones that hadshown adaptation to changing weather patterns.

Inlayers reflecting the different climatical ages, the stone tools werefound to also have changed, reflecting human adaptation. As time wentby, they tended to be more well-polished, flatter and made of lesscommon types of stone, such as quartz.

Su saidarchaeologists had found a human skeleton buried in a bent, sittingposition with a hand covering the folded knees and a hand on cheek, oneof the earliest ways of burying bodies. The posture is also that of ababy in its mother's womb. It is also similar to the way that someancient Aboriginal people were buried in Australia..

At nearby Diem cave, archaeologists uncovered burial sites, animalbones, stone tools and even primitive pottery objects. The cave isbelieved to have been the home of people of a different culture, becausethe bodies were interred in different ways.

At ConMoong cave, human habitation was discovered in 1974, but extensiveexcavations did not begin until 1976. Since 2008, Vietnamese scientistsbegan serious research at the site.

Russian expertsjoined the excavations at Con Moong and neighbouring caves in 2010 tocompile a dossier that would encourage UNESCO to recognise the area as aWorld Cultural Heritage site. The joint-project will end next year.-VNA

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