Vietnam

A distinct Vietnamese ethnolinguistic group began to emerge about 200 BC in the independent kingdom of Nam Viet, which was later annexed to China. In the 1st century AD the kingdom of Funan occupied much of the Mekong delta area, but it disappeared in the 6th century. Most Vietnamese archaeological sites are in the northern part of the country: Lower Palaeolithic tools, a lithic sequence from the end of the Pleistocene (c 10,000-4000 BC) with pottery, full Neolithic cultures appearing after 3000 BC and the Bronze Age, terminating in the classic Dong-Son culture (early second millennium BC- 200 AD). The Bronze Age-Iron Age in southern Vietnam is associated with the Sa-Huynh culture and Chamic (Austronesian) settlement.

Prehistory. Vietnamese archaeology is at present in a very active phase and interpretations change rapidly. Most sites are in the north of the country; Lower Palaeolithic tools are claimed from Mount Do and teeth of Homo erectus from Tham Khuyen cave. From the end of the Pleistocene there is a lithic sequence from Sonviian throught Hoabin-hian to Bacsonian (c10,000 to4000be) with pottery and possible horticulture in later phases. Full Neolithic cultures appear after 3000 bc (Phung-Nguyen) and the Bronze Age, terminating in the classic Dong-son culture, extends from the early second millennium bc to about ad 200, after which northern Vietnam was under Chinese rule (111 bc to ad 939). The Bronze-Iron Age in southern Vietnam is associated with the Sa-Huynh culture and Chamic (Austronesian) settlement. See also Da But, Dong-dau, Go Bong, Go Mun, Quynh-van. Classical. Vietnamese culture can no longer be regarded as provincial Chinese or even Sinicized; instead it must be seen as a local culture which partook to a certain degree in Indianization. Having grown out of the Bronze Age of the Red River area, it absorbed Buddhism from India to such a degree that this religion could become, at the end of Chinese rule in the 10th century, the main expression of cultural independence. Expanding steadily towards the south afterwards, and in particular during the Le dynasty from the 15th century on, into the territory of the Indianized kingdom of Champa, Vietnam eventually absorbed the latter and with it more originally Indian cultural elements, notably in art, music and dress. The southernmost part of present Vietnam having originally been Cambodian territory, more such elements were assimilated when the Vietnamese moved into it. Moreover, recent research has shown that the Vietnamese language is basically an Austro-Asiatic one, the main representative of the Mon-Khmer group. See also Au-lac, Chiao-chih, CO-loa, Dai Vi£t, DOc Chua, vi£t, VAn-lang.