Decoding Phung Nguyen, Hoa Loc, and Den Doi ceramics from the nation's founding period

Associated with three famous locations that are considered to be the origin of the Bronze Age in the early days of nation building and have an important historical role, Phung Nguyen pottery (Phu Tho), Hoa Loc (Thanh Hoa) and Den Doi (Nghe An) are currently being decoded by scientists.

AMAZED BY THE DELICATE PATTERNS

On August 30, at the Museum of Ceramics of the Nation's Founding Period (HCMC), a scientific discussion on "Identifying the value of Phung Nguyen, Hoa Loc, and Den Doi ceramics of the nation's founding period" took place, with the participation of cultural management agencies, researchers, museum leaders, and antique collectors. The highlight of the discussion was the story of ancient Vietnamese people from the early days who created many types of tools, utensils, and artifacts to serve daily life, of which ceramics were the most popular type of relic. Prehistoric ceramics in Vietnam were all rustic, hand-molded, and had rough ceramic bones, mainly made from soil mixed with mollusk shells and plant residues, and were fired outdoors at very high temperatures.

Phung Nguyen culture pottery (3,500 - 4,000 years ago)

PHOTO: QUYNH TRAN

In such a deprived situation, the talent of the ancient Vietnamese people shone even brighter. Dr. Bui Thi Thu Phuong (Vietnam Archaeological Association) said: "The Phung Nguyen potter took the clay and rolled it into small strands and applied them to the ceramic bone while it was still wet. The decorative patterns followed the principles of strips, circles, and vertical axes. The main decorative motifs were in horizontal frames around the artifact. The number of these sunken strips was not uniform, sometimes only two or three lines, sometimes up to five or six lines... Yet they were so beautiful and sophisticated that I am still amazed now".

In the field of ceramics, ancient Vietnamese people created many types of terracotta pottery used for storage and cooking... with pure Vietnamese names, which are still affectionately called pots, steamers, jars, bowls, lids..., and also gave rise to proverbs such as: "Listen to the steaming pots and steamers", "Eat porridge, kick the bowl", "Measure the fish sauce, count the onions"... full of metaphors, contributing to the richness of the Vietnamese language.

Dr. Pham Huu Cong (East-West Cultural Objects Appraisal Company)

Phung Nguyen culture (2,000 - 1,500 BC) is considered the beginning stage of ancient Vietnamese civilization. According to Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History: "Phung Nguyen pottery is mainly household utensils such as pots, jars, bowls, vases... crafted with a rudimentary turntable or hand-molded. The pottery has beautiful patterns showing that the owners of Phung Nguyen culture were people with developed aesthetic thinking. Phung Nguyen people preferred patterns created with curves. All are graceful, elegant, and decisive but still soft, rhythmic but not monotonous. Very talented".

Distribution area of ​​Phung Nguyen cultural relics introduced at the workshop

PHOTO: QUYNH TRAN

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Khac Su (Vietnam Archaeological Association), the Hoa Loc people lived on sandbanks, running about 7 km long, almost parallel to the ancient coastline, about 3 km from the current coastline. Traces of Hoa Loc culture were found on sandbanks with an average height of 3 - 6 m above sea level and gradually decreasing on both sides. During many excavations from 1973 - 1982, nearly 2 million pieces of pottery and 90 complete pottery items were found - one of the few archaeological sites of the Bronze Age in Vietnam with a large and diverse number of pottery items.

"The Hoa Loc people have created a very rich variety of ceramics: pots, bowls, vases, basins, inkstone-shaped boxes, patterned rollers, pottery pounding tables, seals, spinning plumb-pins, bracelets, earrings, beads and ceramic balls. The most typical is the shallow bowl with a quadrilateral mouth circumference, curved corners, the mouth edge protruding outward, the bottom curved and convex, on the rim of the mouth is decorated with dotted patterns of mosquito larvae, combined with carved patterns of water waves. The combination of carved patterns with dotted patterns of mosquito larvae, carved patterns of mouth edges and carved patterns of curved shapes that hook together, dotted patterns in the middle, arranged in bands running around the body or mouth of the ceramic... has made Hoa Loc ceramics unique", researcher Nguyen Khac Su analyzed.

Important source of scientific data

Introducing more about Hoa Loc pottery in the Ma River basin, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Van Liem (Vietnam Archaeological Association) and Director of the Museum of Ceramics of the nation's founding period Pham Gia Chi Bao brought surprises through the collection of intact bowls. This is a unique original artifact with typical decorative motifs of the Hoa Loc culture, reaching the peak of stone and ceramic crafting techniques. The entire artifact is 21 cm high, the mouth diameter is 21 cm; the average ceramic bone thickness is from 0.5 - 0.7 cm. The two speakers also said that they discovered that the engraved patterns were created with stick tools.

Collector Pham Gia Chi Bao with the unique Hoa Loc ceramic bowl

PHOTO: GIAN THANH SON

Studying the ceramic artifacts of Den Doi used for cooking (pots), containers (jars, vases, bowls, trays...) including 3 types: rough red ceramic, rough gray ceramic and smooth ceramic, typically the type of container with a worm-shaped mouth edge, Dr. Hoang Thuy Quynh and Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu (both from the Vietnam Archaeological Association) revealed: "The quite common pattern is the brushed pattern, created with a multi-toothed tool, used for decorative purposes with a sense of shaping art, used to insert into closed engraved motifs, or brushed into a strip running around the shoulder of small-sized containers. The potter must use a tool with 3-4 teeth to create patterns in the shape of a musical staff or water waves...".

And from that sophisticated Temple Hill culture, later generations can imagine some criteria for pottery for Early Bronze Age relics, as well as reflect the cultural connection between the three basins of the Red River, Ma River and Ca River from the beginning of the Bronze Age about 3,500 - 4,000 years ago.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/giai-ma-gom-phung-nguyen-hoa-loc-den-doi-thoi-dung-nuoc-185250831222545047.htm