Sa Huỳnh culture

Former culture in central and southern Vietnam

Part of a series on
Prehistoric and ancient cultures of Vietnam
Paleolithic
Sơn Vi culture (20,000–12,000 BC)
Mesolithic
Hoabinhian (12,000–10,000 BC)
Neolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
  • Sa Huỳnh culture (1,000 BC–200 AD)
  • Óc Eo culture (1–630 AD)
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Part of a series on the
History of Champa
Ancient period
  • Sa Huỳnh culture 1000 BC–200 AD
  • Hồ Tôn Tinh legendary
  • Chinese rule 48 BC–192 AD
  • Lâm Ấp 192–629
  • Quduqian 3rd century AD
  • Xitu 5th–6th century AD
Medieval and early modern period
Timeline
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Asia in 200 BC, showing Sa Huynh and their neighbors.

The Sa Huỳnh culture[a] was a culture in what is now central and southern Vietnam that flourished between 1000 BC and 200 AD.[1][2] Archaeological sites from the culture have been discovered from the Mekong Delta to Quảng Bình province in central Vietnam. The Sa Huynh people were most likely the predecessors of the Cham people, an Austronesian-speaking people and the founders of the kingdom of Champa.[3]: 211–217 

Description

The site at Sa Huỳnh was discovered in 1909. Sa Huỳnh sites were rich in locally worked iron artefacts, typified by axes, swords, spearheads, knives and sickles. In contrast, bronze artifacts were dominant in the Đông Sơn culture sites found in northern Vietnam and elsewhere in mainland Southeast Asia.

The Sa Huỳnh culture cremated adults and buried them in jars covered with lids, a practice unique to the culture. Ritually broken offerings usually accompanied the jar burials. The culture is also typified by its unique ear ornaments featuring two-headed animals, believed by some to depict saola.[4] The ornaments were commonly made from jade (nephrite), but also made from glass. Bead ornaments were also commonly found in Sa Huynh burials, most commonly made from glass.

Trade network

The Sa Huỳnh culture showed evidence of an extensive trade network that existed between 500 BC to AD 1500, known as the Sa Huynh-Kalanay Interaction Sphere (named after the Sa Huỳnh culture and the Kalanay Cave of Masbate, Philippines). It was mainly between Sa Huỳnh and the Philippines, but also extended into archaeological sites in Taiwan, Southern Thailand, and northeastern Borneo. It is characterized by shared red-slipped pottery traditions, as well as double-headed and penannular ornaments known as lingling-o made from materials like green jade (sourced from Taiwan), green mica (from Mindoro), black nephrite (from Hà Tĩnh) and clay (from Vietnam and the Northern Philippines).[5] Sa Huynh also produced beads made from glass, carnelian, agate, olivine, zircon, gold and garnet; most of whom use materials that are also imported. Han dynasty-style bronze mirrors were also found in Sa Huynh sites.[5][6][7]

Timeline of Iron age

TarumanagaraBuni culturePrehistory of IndonesiaHistory of the Philippines (900-1521)History of the PhilippinesImperial VietnamÓc Eo cultureSa Huỳnh culture
Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details
  Prehistoric (or Proto-historic) Iron Age   Historic Iron Age

Artifacts

  • Bronze dagger
    Bronze dagger
  • Pottery vase
    Pottery vase
  • Pottery fruit tray
    Pottery fruit tray
  • Pottery burial jar
    Pottery burial jar
  • Jade penannular lingling-o
    Jade penannular lingling-o
  • Jade double-headed lingling-o
    Jade double-headed lingling-o

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Pronounced sar-HWING. Frequently misspelled as Sa Huyun culture

References

  1. ^ John N. Miksic, Geok Yian Goh, Sue O Connor - Rethinking Cultural Resource Management in Southeast Asia 2011 p. 251 "This site dates from the fifth to first century BCE and it is one of the earliest sites of the Sa Huỳnh culture in Thu Bồn Valley (Reinecke et al. 2002, 153–216); 2) Lai Nghi is a prehistoric cemetery richly equipped with iron tools and weapons, ..."
  2. ^ Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts (Bảo tàng mỹ thuật Việt Nam) 2000 "Right from the early history - before and after the Christian era - over twenty centuries ago, there was a cultural exchange among three major Centres Z Đông Sơn culture in the North, Sa Huỳnh culture in Central and south-eastern Nam Bộ ..."
  3. ^ Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ISBN 9786167339443
  4. ^ deBuys, William (2015). The Last Unicorn: A Search For One of Earth's Rarest Creatures. p. 267.
  5. ^ a b Hung, Hsiao-chun; Nguyen, Kim Dung; Bellwood, Peter; Carson, Mike T. (2013). "Coastal Connectivity: Long-Term Trading Networks Across the South China Sea". Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology. 8 (3): 384–404. doi:10.1080/15564894.2013.781085. S2CID 129020595.
  6. ^ Solheim, William (1969). "Prehistoric Archaeology in Eastern Mainland Southeast Asia and the Philippines". Asian Perspectives. 3: 97–108. hdl:10125/19126.
  7. ^ Miksic, John N. (2003). Earthenware in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Singapore Symposium on Premodern Southeast Asian Earthenwares. Singapore: Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore.
  • Higham, Charles, The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia, ISBN 0-521-56505-7
  • Higham, Charles, Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia, ISBN 1-58886-028-0