VietNamNet Bridge – More than 400 excavations have been conducted by Vietnamese archaeologists in the past year, it was announced during a meeting on Vietnam’s archaeological activities in 2008 held in Hanoi on September 30.

Co Loa Citadel.

Archaeologists have excavated sites belonging to various ages and civilizations: the Stone Age, the metal age, Champa-Oc Eo, Ha Long, Phung Nguyen, etc.

The excavation at Dong Trong 1 and 2 caves in the northern province of Quang Ninh revealed that the caves were the home and the site of tombs of pre-historical men belonging to the late-period of the Ha Long civilization.

While making surveys and preparing scientific documents about Con Moong Cave to submit to UNESCO for recognition as a world cultural heritage site, the Vietnam Archaeology Institute and Thanh Hoa province excavated some archaeological sites in Thach Thanh district, Cuc Phuong National Park and Trang An cave (Ninh Binh province).

Many old sites have been re-evaluated while many new sites discovered. Excavations in Go Bong in the northern province of Phu Tho have uncovered bronze items which are different from bronze items of the Phung Nguyen culture.

Two big excavations were implemented at Co Loa citadel (Hanoi). These have shown that the Thuong Temple was a big centre of many ancient states (An Duong Vuong and Ngo Quyen ages) and a centre of metallurgy.

The Vietnam Archaeology Institute and Illinois University (US) said that the Co Loa citadel was built on the foundation of the previous citadel. The citadel was re-built at least four times.

The Vietnam Archaeology Institute and Phu Yen province’s museum excavated the Ho Dynasty’s citadel and they discovered that the economic and cultural life of Cham people in the citadel was at a high level, equivalent to that of Tra Kieu (Quang Nam province).

However, a representative of the Vietnam Archaeology Institute warned of fake antiques. Many fake antiques have entered big museums of Vietnam.

This year the Vietnam Archaeology Institute and the Vietnam History Museum will celebrate their 40^th and 50^th birthdays. In November and December 2009, Vietnam will host the 19^th conference of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA), with the participation of 400 international archaeologists.

(Source: TP)