Visiting the Stone Roof of Vanh village

6/11/2022 - 1:05:27 PM

(HBO) - In the early days of May, we had the opportunity to visit the Stone Roof of Vanh village - a national archaeological relic located in Yen Phu commune (Lac Son). The Stone Roof of Vanh village is located at the foot of the range of the white stone mountain in Khu Vanh hamlet, next to the junior high school, not far from the center of the People's Committee of Yen Phu Commune, among four quiet mountains and forests.

The preserved Stone Roof of Vanh village in Yen Phu commune (Lac Son) promises to develop the various types of cultural and ecological tourism in the future.

According to the local people and history, the Stine Roof of Vanh village is from Buoi river, a river associated with many generations of the people in Lac Son district, locally known as the Ben Ky river section. The places of Trang and Vanh mountains have been mentioned many times in the epic "Giving birth to land, giving birth to water” of Muong ethnic people, the quintessential soul of a part of Muong Vang culture. The Stone Roof of Vanh village was discovered and and excavated by the French archaeologist named M. Colani in 1929 during an archaeological investigation in the southern limestone area of Hoa Binh province. The local people also call the Stone Roof of Vanh village as a snail cave, because there are a lot of conches in the cave. The Stone Roof of Vanh village is a fairly large and airy stone roof, the door is 30m wide, 18m deep, the ceiling arch is 10m high, gradually lower inwards. The stone roof is about 5m higher than the surrounding field. The entire part has the traces of the cultural layers with the natural light, and the door faces the southwest. In the picture taken by M.Colani in 1929, there is an old banyan tree right next to the door of the stone roof, probably in the period when the primitive people lived here, there were many large trees to cover, possibly it was the thick forest in the past. According to the excavation results, 972 artifacts have been counted, of which: The cultural layer here is nearly 4m thick, the rock roof is composed of the lime clay together with the mollusk shells and the mountain snail shells. Each cultural layer is the remnants after the meal of the ancient Hoa Binh people. The various types of the stone relics are found in the Stone Roof of Vanh Village, besides the hewn tools such as the triangular axes, the short axes, the bladed axes, the axes with blade sharpening shoulders, full body axes, pestles, the crushed stone, the stone ring, the bone relics, the horns, the mollusks and the pottery relics. The burial and human remains were discovered by M.Colani at the Stone Roof of Vanh Village in 1929 with the fragments of 8 skulls... At the Stone Roof site of Vanh village, a large number of grinding tools were obtained, including 54 grinding blade tools, 4 chisels, 5 full body sharpening axes, 2 grinding tables, 5 stones with holes and 3 stone rings.

The results of the excavation and the determination of C14 radiocarbon in the Stone Roof site of Vanh village published by M.Colani in 1930 showed that the Stone Roof site of Vanh village belongs to Hoa Binh Culture with a tensile date frame of 17,000 to 8,000 years ago. M. Colani classifies the Stone Roof of Vanh village as an intermediate stage of Hoa Binh Culture, a type of stone age archeological relic, a residence and burial monument in the stone roof of the range of limestone mountain.

Currently, the relic of the Stone Roof of Vanh village still retains part of the original cultural layer, there are still many layers of sediments of the Quaternary period on the rock roof wall. The entire range of the white mountain and the westernmost part where the Stone Roof of Vanh village is still preserved. This is a typical relic among the relics of Hoa Binh Culture discovered and studied in Hoa Binh province.

Mr. Bui Van Tuong, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Yen Phu Commune says: The archeological site of the Stone Roof of Vanh village is a valuable cultural value for the locality. To protect the relics, the commune has invested in building the steps to the cave for people to come and learn about the history. The commune has been propagandizing about this relic for many years so that the local people and the students in the area are conscious of protecting, preserving and proud of the national historical relic, and organize the festivals on at the beginning of the year. There is a primeval forest with has many rare and precious animals in the range of the white stone mountain area in Vanh village, and there are many unspoiled spots containing the cultural features, and thelocal people have also come to burn incense, praying for favorable rain and wind, good crops and peaceful life. The commune wishes that the State would pay attention to invest in upgrading the infrastructure in the Stone Roof of Vanh area so that it becomes a cultural and historical attraction. Currently, the communal government has a plan to develop various types of cultural and ecological tourism when the the works of Canh Tang lake is used to store water to improve and enhance the lives of the people here.

3.6 Billion VND Allocated to Preserve Traditional Cultural Values of Ethnic Minorities in Lạc Sơn District

As part of Project 6 under the national target program for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in 2024, Lạc Sơn District, Hoa Binh province focuses on diverse and practical activities to promote the project's goal: "Preserving and promoting the beautiful traditional cultural values of ethnic groups in conjunction with tourism development."

Mobilizing the power to preserve and promote the cultural heritage values

After 3 years of implementing Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU, dated October 11, 2021 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on preserving and promoting the cultural heritage values of Hoa Binh province's ethnic groups in the period of 2021 – 2025 with the orientation to 2030 (NQ04), it has mobilized the participation of the entire political system, the people from all walks of life and there have been positive changes. So far, out of the 10 targets of NQ04, 3 targets have been met and exceeded the plan set for 2025. Typically, 70% of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of ethnic groups in the province is on the list of the national ICH items and they have been protected and restored, exceeding 20% of the proposed Resolution.