An Son and the Neolithic of Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Between 4500 and 3500 years ago, partially intrusive Neolithic populations in the riverine basins of mainland Southeast Asia began to form mounded settlements and to develop economies based on rice cultivation, fishing, hunting, and the domestication of animals, especially pigs and dogs. A number of these sites have been excavated in recent years and they are often large mounds that can attain several meters in depth, comprising successive layers of alluvial soil brought in periodically to serve as living floors. The site of An Son is of this type and lies in a small valley immediately north of the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. Excavated on five occasions since 1978, and most recently in 2009, it was occupied from the late third into the late second millennium b.c . An Son has produced evidence that attests the domestication of pigs and dogs in all layers apart (perhaps) from the most basal one, which was not investigated in 2009, together with the growing of rice of the subspecies Oryza sativa japonica , of Chinese Neolithic origin. The oldest pottery has simple incised and punctate zoned decoration with parallels in central Thailand, especially in the basal phases at Nong Nor and Khok Phanom Di. From its middle and later occupation phases (1800–1200 b.c .), An Son has produced a number of supine extended burials with finely decorated pottery grave goods that carry some unique forms, especially vessels with wavy or serrated rims. The An Son burials represent a Neolithic population that expressed a mixture of both indigenous Hoabinhian and more northerly (probably Neolithic southern Chinese) cranial and dental phenotypes, perhaps representing a likely ancestral population for some of the modern Austroasiatic-speaking populations of mainland Southeast Asia.

Contextualising the Neolithic Occupation of Southern Vietnam: The Role of Ceramics and Potters at An Son

“…One such settlement was the mound site of An Sơn, located alongside the main course of the Vàm Cỏ Đông River, overlooking alluvial floodplains with rice fields. An Sơn has evidence of a neolithic sedentary occupation at which many generations of people were occupied in rice cultivation and animal husbandry, and utilised ceramic, stone, shell and bone technologies (Piper et al 2012;Bellwood et al 2011).Many questions about the origins of neolithic people in mainland Southeast Asia remain unanswered; who they were, the routes they used to arrive there, what they brought with them, how they interacted with indigenous groups, and how regionalised neolithic life developed. This monograph explores a small part of these queries, focussing on the neolithic ceramic traditions that were brought to southern Vietnam and the innovations that ensued soon after with the establishment of a local identity.…”

“…Such appears to have been the case in mainland Southeast Asia (e.g. Bellwood et al 2011;Belfiore et al 2010;Bellwood and Oxenham 2008;Rispoli 2007).There is variability in the terminology applied to issues of food production in archaeology. These terms overlap in their meanings and they must be used explicitly (Harris 1996: 3).…”

First Farmers in Mainland Southeast Asia

“…The cultural sequence at An Son began with an occupation phase dated between 2300-2000 BC. This very small exposure lacked evidence for rice cultivation or the presence of domestic animals, but a later excavation identified rice phytoliths in the basal layer (Bellwood et al 2013). The earliest pottery was sand tempered.…”

The Prehistoric House: A Missing Factor in Southeast Asia

“…This void is being filled by Bellwood's fieldwork in southern Vietnam (Bellwood et al 2013;Oxenham et al 2015), where Neolithic Rach Nui, An Son and Loc Giang reveal superimposed floors associated with postholes that, with more extensive excavations, would doubtless illuminate house plans. These new excavation results are a reminder of a rectangular clay structure comprising a floor and walls representing the sixth mortuary phase at Khok Phanom Di.…”