The archaeological site of Bai Coi, belonging to hamlet 9, commune of Xuan Vien, huyen of Nghi Xuan, province of Ha Tinh. This site has been discovered, explored and excavated since the years 70 of the 20 th century. To have more information on the character and the cultural contents of the site as well as to exhume in time the precious vestiges face to the destruction of the site (because of sand exploitation, and because of the search of ancient objects by the popukation… ), from 12/2008 to the end of 1/2009, the National Museum of Vietnamese History, in coordination with the Service of Culture, of Sports and Tourism of Ha Tinh, has undertaken the excavation of the site of Bai Coi.
The archaeological site of Bai Coi, belonging to hamlet 9, commune of Xuan Vien, huyen of Nghi Xuan, province of Ha Tinh. This site has been discovered, explored and excavated since the years 70 of the 20th century. To have more information on the character and the cultural contents of the site as well as to exhume in time the precious vestiges face to the destruction of the site (because of sand exploitation, and because of the search of ancient objects by the popukation… ), from 12/2008 to the end of 1/2009, the National Museum of Vietnamese History, in coordination with the Service of Culture, of Sports and Tourism of Ha Tinh, has undertaken the excavation of the site of Bai Coi. The excavation has shown that this is a site of tombs, belonging to the culture of Sa Huynh, which lasts from the beginning of the era until the second century after the era. However, the site and the vestiges of Bai Coi have reflected the relations and the interactions with the culture of Dong son in ancient history.
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First, as for the site: in the site of Bai Coi, there are different modes of burial: jar-tombs, vase-cauldron-tombs, and earth tombs among which the earth tombs are the most numerous. As we know, the jar-tombs are the characteristic habit of the culture of Sa Huynh, whereas the earth tombs are characteristic of the culture of Dong Son. At the site of Bai Coi, the earth tombs occupy a large proportion, which proves the great influence of the culture of Dong Son upon the population of Bai Coi. These tombs, being buried in the sand, have no signs to delimit themselves. One can only base oneself on the ceramics and on the accompanying objects on a same plane to delimit the tomb. From the tombs which still keep their frontiers and their pits, one can see that the tombs are buried in rectangular pits, of 1,8 to 2m of length, of 0,8 to 1m of width. In the group of earth tombs, there are tombs which are blocked with pieces of ceramics and one observes the phenomenon of
“to kill the object before burying it”, the pieces of ceramics are buried around the tomb. This habit of blocking with ceramics is very near the mode of burial of the site of Lang Vac (Nghe An) – a characteristic site belonging to the culture of South Dong Son, geographically not far from the site of Bai Coi.
- As for the vestige: In the whole set of vestiges of the site of Bai Coi, we can reveal the influences of the culture of Dong Son through the following objects:
- The bronze objects found ai the site of Bai coi are not numerous. They are all of the type of axes with spread blade or rectangular axes. One can see that they carry typical elements of the culture of Dong Son of the Lang Vac type.
- The iron typical objects reflecting the interaction with the culture of Dong son at the site of Bai Coi are pickaxes in form of U, a type of objects found in rather great quantitites at this site. They are vestiges carrying elements of late Dong Son where can already be found influences of the culture of South China.
- In the whole, one can see that the ceramics of Bai Coi are the development of the tradition of Sa Huynh. The aspect and the decorations show clearly the technical and artistical high level of the ceramics of Sa Huynh such as vases in the shape of round objects, with high pedestal, with embouchure decorated in a complicated manner, with beautiful drawings of decoration. However, in the ceramics of Bai Coi, one sees the influence of the culture of Dong Son in the decorations printed on the body of the ceramics. The influence of the culture of Dong Son in the ceramics of Bai Coi is seen also in the bored cauldrons. The bored cauldrons can be found only in the culture of Dong Son and not in the ceramics of Sa Huynh. They are found only in the site of Lang Vac and not in the sites of the Red River and of River Ma of the culture of Dong Son. The appearance of the bored cauldrons at the site of Bai Coi has reflected the near influence of the culture of Dong Son of the type of Lang Vac with the site of Bai Coi.
In occasion of the exhibition entitled
“Echo of Dong Son – Newly discovered objects in 2004 – 2009”, we send to those who like to know the national history some new informations about the interactions between the culture of Dong Son and the culture of Sa Huynh in the site of Bai Coi, a site of the culture of Sa Huynh situated at the North, and which just underwent an excavation by the National Museum of Vietnamese History.
We hope that in the future, through the long-winded study over a large extend at the site of Bai Coi, we will have a more complete and more profound view of the role of the site of Bai Coi in the interaction with the culture of Dong Son in nparticular, in the interastion between the cultures Dong Son – Sa Huynh in the ancient history of our country in general.