08 June 2007 (Viet Nam Net Bridge) – More details released about the 4,000-year-old-skeleton found in Tuyen Quang province. The oval-shaped grave is unusual for the period and the artefacts unearthed are found to be similar to those of the Hoa Binh culture 2,000 years prior. The archaeologists are racing against time as the site is due to be flooded because of a hydroelectric dam.
Prehistoric human skeleton unearthed
Archaeologists have unearthed a prehistoric human skeleton buried in a cave in northern province of Tuyen Quang.
The skeleton, which measures 1.65m in length, was buried lying on its back with its hands facing downwards. A number of prehistoric tools were also found lying in the grave in Phia Mon, Son Phuc Commune in Na Hang District.
Archaeologists from the Viet Nam Archaeological Institute and Tuyen Quang Museum said the skeleton dated back to the late Stone Age, around 4,000 years ago.
They said stones had been piled up around the grave to make an oval shaped burial mound that is very unusual for the period.
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Read more about the prehistoric skeleton of Tuyen Quang.
Books about Vietnamese prehistory:
– Bioarchaeology of Southeast Asia (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology) by M. Oxenham
– The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia: From 10,000 B.C. to the Fall of Angkor by C. Higham