Posted on 11/17/2006 9:55:37 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Parts of a bronze drum thought to be at least 2,000 years old was discovered recently by a resident in Vietnam's Phu Yen province who turned it over to the authorities.
Director of the provincial museum, Phan Dinh Phung, identified the drum Thursday as belonging to the Dong Son Culture (1000 BCE-200 CE) based in its design and vignettes.
Only the surface of the drum, found near the Ba River in Tay Hoa district, remains, measuring 43 centimeters across.
According to the Institute of Archaeology, the date or purpose of the Dong Son drums are unknown but they are generally thought to be about 2,000 years old and to have some ritual significance. Six of them have been found in the province so far.
Their casting is a complex process requiring high order of technology and artistic skills.
Dong Son is the name of a burial and habitation site in northern Vietnam, on the southwestern edge of the Red River delta, where these drums were found for the first time during excavations in the 1920s.
(Excerpt) Read more at thanhniennews.com ...
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Neat
Where's the other part of the bongo?
GGG bump.
Bronze was necessary for high-quality chariots. This technology was developed about 2000 BC on the steppes northeast of the Black Sea and spread rapidly (no kidding) in all directions, reaching Egypt almost immediately and China somewhat later.
It may not be a drum, perhaps it just sounds like one (as many things do) and these are really the tops to milk cans or something. ;')
DRUM!!
Yup. The Red-Headded Mummies of Urumchi probably did it. And, horse domestication and pants.
"...tops to milk cans" "...43 cm across (approx. 17")..."
You may be on to something there...
Archaeologists have long linked the development of bronze metallurgy (the Bronze Age) with rise of state and urban civilizations. The Bronze Age was also synonymous with kings, standing armies, gargantuan temples and defensive walls, but Ban Chiang tells of a different Bronze Age. At Ban Chiang archaeologists found a fully developed bronze metallurgy, about the same age as the Shang civilization in China, but essentially in a peaceful village context. Archaeologists are still trying to digest the presence of a sophisticated technology in a society with little social hierarchy, and one that seems unwarlike no less. Today, because of the research at Ban Chiang, we know Southeast Asia has its own story to tell concerning the development of agriculture, metallurgy, society and art, the stuff that makes the human story so interesting."
It seemed like a good time to udder that idea. I am, after all, I'm hereford the duration.
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