Over 6,300 artifacts excavated at Yen Bai’s archaeological site

Yen Bai (VNA) – More than 6,300 artifacts, have been found in excavations at the archaeological site Ben Mau A in Van Yen district, the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, since September 2000, according to the provincial Museum.

The unearthed objects include mainly include stone tools, numbering over 1,000.

Through the findings, archaeologists believe that Ben Mau A is one of the few open-air stone sites in North Vietnam that are valuable for research on characteristics of the stone technology and culture.

During their excavations in 2000, scientists also discovered raw pottery in the pre-Dong Son period and the Le Dynasty, and stone axes belonging to the  post-Neolithic - early Metal Age.

These show that Ben Mau A is not only a residential area of prehistoric people through many periods, but also a site witnessing a transition from the Son Vi to the Hoa Binh civilisation, which is very important for researching the relationship between the two in the Red River basin.

If the hypothesis that this is the area of prehistoric people can be proven, this will be very important information, marking a big change in the production organisation and division of labour of prehistoric people, according to Dr. Ben Marwick from the University of Washington in the US.

Findings from excavations in 2015 show  Ben Mau A is an outdoor prehistoric site belonging to the Hoa Binh civilisation which existed at the late Pleistocene to early Holocene  in Northern Vietnam.

This site has a stable and undisturbed stratigraphy which can serve the long-term research purpose in the future./.