Excavation throws up earliest evidence of rice cultivation

Excavation of an ancient Vietnamese site has thrown up the earliest evidence of rice cultivation, while shedding new light on how the death of young children was viewed by community members.

The excavation, led by professor Peter Bellwood and Marc Oxenham from the Australian National University (ANU) School of Archaeology and Anthropology, studied the site, some 3,000-4,000 years old, named An Son.

The findings suggest that death in young children was so common that community members were unlikely to revere the death of their offspring until they had survived for more than five years.

The burial of a new born baby without any associated grave goods and positioned within discarded kitchen material may suggest high levels of infant mortality, as well as a reduced emotional investment in very young children that may not live long anyway, said Bellwood.

On the other hand, the burial of a 12-year-old child with high quality ceramics and stone tools might mean children that survived the danger years - birth to five years old in most cases - could be revered by family or community members in death.

While this excavation has revealed the earliest clear evidence of rice agriculture in southern Vietnam, their diets were extremely broad, said Oxenham.

A wealth of animal bones - some probably domesticated - attest to the dietary breadth of these early Vietnamese, including species of cattle, pig, deer, freshwater crocodile, shellfish and reptile and amphibian remains," he added.

We also found a large number of stone adzes, many shouldered to accommodate long-since rotted wooden handles. That suggests a significant amount of forest clearance was occurring, presumably to increase the area of cultivatable land.

The excavation team has also found a large quantity of pottery from humble cooking vessels to massive, ornately-incised and patterned ceramics, said an ANU release.

The research team worked with students from ANU in collaboration with the Centre for Archaeological Research, Hanoi and members of the An Son village community.

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( 335 Words)

2009-07-03-16:17:02 (IANS)

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