Discovering prehistoric cave relics in Bac Kan

Archaeologists have discovered a number of sites with cultural vestiges of prehistoric people in caves in the limestone mountains in Quang Khe commune, Ba Be district, Bac Kan province.

Information from the Institute of Archeology said that the Institute of Archeology, the Vietnam Archaeological Association and the Bac Kan Provincial Museum have coordinated to survey and discover a number of places with cultural vestiges of prehistoric people in the cave. belongs to the limestone mountains in Quang Khe commune, Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, in which the outstanding relics of Tham Un cave are.

Through studying the entire Tham Un cave, the survey team discovered many relics of prehistoric people. Initial survey results showed that traces of ancient people were found almost throughout the cave area.

Many artifacts belonging to the Late Paleolithic period were discovered in Ba Be National Park. Photo: VNA

The team conducted reconnaissance digging a small hole 3 m2. In the dug hole, four stoves were discovered at different positions and depths, but no traces of burial were discovered. In total, more than 700 relics were discovered, of which more than 600 relics were discovered in the dug hole and more than 100 were collected on the cave floor, mainly stone tools.

All stone tools are made from river pebbles. The type of tools in the early cultural layer bears the characteristics of Bac Son cultural tools such as oval tools, short axes, disc-shaped tools, pointed hoes, stones, grinding tables, grinding pestles, etc. Small-sized stripping tools make up the bulk of the toolkit.

Archaeologists have also collected many pieces of animal tooth bones, shells of stream snails and mountain snails, and a few fruit seeds. Through the analysis of animal bones, initially identified monkeys, porcupines, wild chickens, deer, pigs…

The finding of many animal teeth and mollusk shells and the remaining remains shows that hunting and gathering occupied a particularly important position in the way of finding food sources of prehistoric people here. The presence of many pebbles, raw pebbles, striated stones and scraps here proves that the tooling process is carried out on-site.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Nang Chung, leader of the survey team, based on the overall study of the relics, on the structure and age of cultural stratigraphic sediments, researchers initially thought that Tham Un cave is a relic. inhabited by generations of prehistoric people.

Archaeologists survey one of the caves located in the core area of ​​Ba Be National Park. Photo: VNA

The early inhabitants belonged to the late Bac Son culture period dating from 5,000 years to 6,000 years ago. The late inhabitants belonged to the Late Neolithic – Early Metal Age about 4,000 years ago today. This is a very important cave prehistoric monument.

Before that, archaeologists also conducted an archaeological investigation that had just taken place in Ba Be National Park. Here, the survey team discovered many sites with cultural vestiges of prehistoric people in caves in the limestone mountains surrounding the lake.

Prominent among these are 4 monuments: Tham Kit cave, Tham Mya cave, Na Phoong cave and Ba Cua cave in Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district. The common feature of these prehistoric cave relics is that they are distributed in the core zone of the national park, near the lake bed, and the mouth of the cave looks down to Ba Be lake.