Con Moong Cave - History

History

Con Moong archaeological site is really a key for the understanding of Vietnamese and South East Asian prehistory. It has been confirmed that the continuation of art techniques to make cobble tools with representatives from Son Vi culture to Hoa Binh culture, and then Bac Son culture. Con Moong Cave may show the evolution of human beings from the end of the old stone age, transiting through the middle stone age, to the beginning of the new stone age; from hunting and gathering, to plantation and breeding, the occupants of the site transitioned from a primitive stage to an age of civilization.

The development from Old Stone Age to new Stone Age in Vietnam also implies a change from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. Cultural layers I and II have various floristic compositions, which means that there is only sporoplasm (Polypodiaceae, Cyatheaceae) but not pollen; and vice versa, there is only pollen (Chenopodiaceae, Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, Myricaceae, Mzliaceae, Fagaceac) but not sporoplasm in cultural layer II.

At present there are 17 generations C14 for cultural layers in different depths of the Con Moong excavation site. The duration between Pleistocene and Holocene of the Quaternary period in Vietnam that is more or less 10,000 years ago.

In the Con Moong archaeological site, the existence of Son Vi culture at the end of the Old Stone Age has been reconfirmed by stratum document. Moreover, formerly Son Vi culture has been only known as existing before Hoa Binh culture but now it is known more clearly that it had been integrated with Hoa Binh culture at the utmost.

Through the tombs found in cultural layers II and I, we have found out about the Son Vi ancient people. The mollusks, yellow soil, and stone wares buried together with the dead people suggest that there is a connection between Son Vi and Hoa Binh people based on the burial forms. The stone wares in layer II are of the Hoa Binh culture, but are big not small, and quite different from the European mesolithic. It means that in the mesolithic or epipaleolithic, people here did not use the bow and arrow as others, but rather the abundance of bamboo allowed them to use bows and cross-bows without armature, as in many other places.

Layer III is of the Bac Son culture, similar to Hoa Binh II that had been put forward before by M. Colani. Hoa Binh II or Bac Son culture really belongs to the New Stone Age, with the appearance of axes with ground blades and pottery. With blade axes, the human beings had gained great achievement in production techniques of stone wares, the beginning for the New Stone Age revolution in Vietnam and the region.