Sa Huỳnh culture

The Sa - Huynh culture was an Iron Age culture in Central and South Vietnam, which flourished around 500 BC to about 100 AD. The distribution extends to a length of over 700 km. The Sa - Huynh culture is particularly widespread in the coastal regions.

Origin

It is believed that it was the ancestors of the Cham people is in the people of this culture, which in turn founded the Kingdom of Champa. The language of the Cham has its closest relatives in the Acehnese and Malay languages ​​of Borneo, which is why the Sa - Huynh - people are probably immigrated from there.

General

The Sa - Huynh culture is a urnfield culture. The cemeteries lie often directly behind the coast. The urns were provided with a lid and contained a number of objects, such as specific metal weapons, bronze mirrors and golden trinkets. Many of the offerings were ritually broken, while usually only jewelleries were healed. The style of these artifacts distinguishes the Sa - Huynh of the approximately contemporaneous Dong Son culture in Northern Vietnam, although both cultures maintained close trade relations. Typical especially often made ​​of jade earrings with wings are. The pottery shows a variety of shapes and is decorated with incised patterns. The objects are characterized by a high level of technical skill. Also noteworthy is the production of glass beads. In Ndut Lieng Krak even a Dan -Da ( Lithophone ) was found. There is evidence of trade relations to Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan.

History of Research

At Sa - Huynh, the eponymous locality, 1909, the first boxes were found. The town was founded in 1918 systematically investigated. Here they discovered 200 boxes. The term "Sa - Huynh culture" was introduced in 1935. The study of this culture has, however, increased significantly only since the 1970s. So far, about 50 localities are known.