Efforts made to preserve, promote values of Hoa Binh Culture

11/1/2023 - 5:50:15 PM

(HBO) – Hoa Binh Culture – a Stone Age culture dating from 18,000 - 7,000 years ago, was discovered by Madeleine Colani - a French female archaeologist in 1926. In 1932, the first conference of Far Eastern pre-historicists meeting in Hanoi recognised the term "Hoa Binh Culture”, named by Colani, as a term to refer to an ancient culture that appeared and existed on territory of prehistoric Vietnam.

Tourists learn about Hoa Binh Culture artifacts at the provincial Museum.

The Hoa Binh Culture spread throughout Southeast Asia, but most found relics of the period are concentrated in Hoa Binh province with over 80 out of 150 relic sites found in Vietnam. The archaeological sites belonging to "Hoa Binh culture” are mainly located in clusters of caves or rock shelters. They have been discovered in Trai hamlet’s cave in Tan Lao district, Vanh hamlet’s rock shelter in Lac Son district, Cho cave in Luong Son district, Dong Thot cave in Lac Thuy district and Muoi cave in Tan Lac district.

Over the past years, the work of preserving and promoting the value of Hoa Binh Culture has received attention from Party Committees and authorities at all levels. Many archaeological relic sites of Hoa Binh Culture in the province have been ranked at the national level.

In 2022, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the provincial Museum coordinated with the Institute of Archaeology, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and Centre for Southeast Asian Prehistory to conduct archaeological excavations at national relic sites: Vanh hamlet’s rock shelter and Trai hamlet cave. These are two typical archaeological relics of Hoa Binh Cultural in the province in particular and Vietnam in general.

With unique archaeological cultural values of a world-famous Stone Age culture in Hoa Binh, local authorities are making scientific documents asking for competent agencies’ recognition of the two relic sites as special national historical relic sites.

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As a land deeply intertwined with human history and Vietnam’s millennia-long journey of nation-building and defence, Hoa Binh is often revered for its epic tales and legends. Residents of Hoa Binh boast a rich cultural identity, reflected in their unique language, traditional attire, customs, and folk melodies – described as "sweet as honey, clear as a mountain stream.”

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