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

Associated with three famous locations identified as the origin of the Bronze Age in the early days of nation building and having 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 during the nation's founding period (HCMC), a scientific discussion "Identifying the value of Phung Nguyen, Hoa Loc, and Den Doi ceramics during 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 their daily lives, 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 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 and lines was not uniform, sometimes only two or three lines, sometimes up to five or six lines... Yet they were so beautiful and sophisticated that even now I am still amazed".

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 steam of pots and steamers", "Each pot has its own lid", "Eat porridge and kick the bowl", "Measure the fish sauce bottle, count the pickled 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, 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 that were 3 - 6 m above sea level and gradually lower 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 created a very rich variety of ceramics: pots, bowls, vases, basins, 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 edges of the mouth protruding outward, the bottom is curved, the rim is decorated with dotted patterns in the shape of mosquito larvae, combined with carved patterns in the shape of water waves. The combination of carved patterns with dotted patterns in the shape of mosquito larvae, carved patterns on the edge of the mouth and carved patterns of curved shapes that hook together, decorated with 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 Ceramic Museum 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, with a mouth diameter of 21 cm; the average ceramic bone thickness is 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 rolled mouth shaped like a worm, 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 containers. The potter must use a tool with 3-4 teeth to create patterns in the shape of a musical score or water waves...".

And from that sophisticated Hill Temple 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