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

Abstract

terra australis 42Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia -lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present. Dewey Number: 666.09597 List of volumes in Terra AustralisCopyright of the text remains with the authors, 2014. This book is copyright in all countries subscribing to the Berne convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher.Cover image courtesy of C. Sarjeant.Back cover map: Hollandia Nova. Thevenot 1663 by courtesy of the National Library of Australia. Reprinted with permission of the National Library of Australia. The excavations at An Sơn were funded by a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council. My own research was funded by the Australian Postgraduate Award.The analysis of the ceramic fabrics was conducted with SEM-EDX at the Electron Microscopy Unit at The Australian National University, with guidance from Frank Brink. I would also like to thank Glenn Summerhayes for teaching me the benefits and methods of SEM and the electron microprobe.There are a number of people I would like to recognise for their support over the past few years. Charles Higham has always offered advice and provided useful information over the years, even after departing the University of Otago after my Master's. Nigel Chang initially invited me to Ban Non Wat eight years ago, and allowed me to visit again to review the more recent neolithic discoveries in 2009. Fiorella Rispoli and Roberto Ciarla shared their knowledge of the neolithic in central Vietnam, and Fiorella's wealth of knowledge on ceramics has always been a reference for me. Lâm Thị Mỹ Dung opened up the ceramic collections at the University of Hanoi to me in 2009, which offered some valuable comparative ideas for this monograph. Louise Cort and Joyce White organised a workshop on Southeast Asian ceramics in Washington, DC and Philadelphia in 2010; an event from which I gained much inspiration and I feel privileged to have been a part of it. I would also like to acknowledge those individuals from afar who were interested in my research -it helped to keep the inspiration going, so thanks to Andreas Reinecke, Nishimura Masanari, and those I met at conferences over these past few years.Closer to home, I would like to thank Anna Willis for her knowledge about mortuary ritual at An Sơn. I am also grateful for the new insights into southern Vietnamese archaeology after working alongside Philip Piper at Rạch Núi. Thanks to Judith Cameron who was so supp...

Rach Nui: ground stone technology in coastal Neolithic settlements of southern Vietnam

“…The evidence presented here supplements the pottery data (see Sarjeant 2014), and suggests that Neolithic southern Vietnam was integrated into broader networks of material culture and information exchange. The presence of transportable grinding stones for the specialist maintenance and repair of polished stone adzes also hints at the movement of people, including technological specialists, around the landscape.…”

Hunter-gatherer specialization in the late Neolithic of southern Vietnam – The case of Rach Nui

“…The site was well connected both inland and to the sea via the adjacent river system although there is no evidence that the inhabitants went to the coast to procure food supplies. However, interconnectivity is evident from the domesticated cereals and fine ware pottery found on site but probably coming from elsewhere, particularly the Dong Nai region (Sarjeant, 2014). It is possible that Rach Nui exchanged locally sourced or processed items for cereals and pottery.…”

“…For example, the site of An Son, a southern Vietnamese Neolithic settlement dating from about 2100-1050 BCE, has material culture, including pottery traditions, with parallels in other Neolithic sites in Vietnam (e.g. Loc Giang and Cu Lao Rua) and in Thailand (Tha Kae, Ban Non Wat, Nong Nor and Khok Phanom Di) [Sarjeant 2014]. Rice phytoliths have also been found in abundance at this site (Tan et al 2012) as well as domestic pig and dog, which formed a major part of the subsistence at An Son .…”

“…Rice phytoliths have also been found in abundance at this site (Tan et al 2012) as well as domestic pig and dog, which formed a major part of the subsistence at An Son . However, subtle differences between material culture repertoires, the geographic locations of raw material sourcing and socio-economic strategies are also becoming more apparent between various regional settlement groups in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA), implying relatively complex interactions between the different Neolithic communities that inhabited the region (see Sarjeant, 2014).…”

Ban Non Wat: crucial research, but is it too soon for certainty?

“…2011), Thach Lac in central Vietnam (current research), and the Vam Co Dong and Dong Nai Neolithic sites of Southern Vietnam—An Son, Loc Giang, Dinh Ong and Rach Nui (Bellwood et al . 2013; Piper & Oxenham 2014; Sarjeant 2014; Oxenham et al . 2015)—there is not a scrap of bronze, or indeed any other kind of metal, prior to 1500 BC in terms of our current chronological understanding.…”