The first Dong Son bronze drums were successfully cast using terracotta mold fragments discovered at the Luy Lau site in Bac Ninh province.
On the morning of November 22nd, the National Museum of History organized a thematic exhibition on newly collected artifacts of the Dong Son culture and the discovery of bronze drum molds at Luy Lau through archaeological excavations.
Announcing the successful casting of the Dong Son bronze drum, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hoan, Deputy Director of the National Museum of History, said that this was the result of discovering nearly 1,000 fragments of terracotta drum molds in 7 square meters of land at the ancient citadel of Luy Lau, Tri Qua commune, Thuan Thanh district, Bac Ninh province in 2022.
Fragments of terracotta drum molds have been discovered. Photo: Gia Chinh
Based on the mold fragments, archaeologists from the National Museum of History have reconstructed the shape of the drum and surveyed traditional drum-making villages across the country. Che Dong village, Thieu Trung commune, Thieu Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province was chosen as the experimental site for drum casting.
After more than a month of work, the drum was cast, basically meeting the technical and aesthetic requirements in terms of thickness, weight, decorative patterns, and resonance. "The Luy Lau bronze drum became the first to be cast on a scientific basis using mold fragments. This shows that Luy Lau was a center of bronze casting in the past, and at the same time affirms the strong vitality of the Dong Son culture," Ms. Hoan said.
The Dong Son bronze drum has been successfully cast. Photo: Gia Chinh
Previously, from 1964 to 1975, the National Museum of History, in collaboration with the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, experimented with casting the Ngoc Lu bronze drum, belonging to the Dong Son culture (dating back 2,000-2,500 years), based on analysis of the alloy composition and technical traces on the artifact. After four unsuccessful attempts, the fifth casting was assessed to be about 80% successful compared to the original drum.
Bronze drums are representative artifacts of the Dong Son culture, dating back to 800-200 BC, and spanning a wide area from Southern China to Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, bronze drums are mainly found in the northern and north-central provinces. This period witnessed the strong development of metallurgy and the perfection of bronze casting technology.
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