via Bao Ninh Binh, 30 June 2024: The Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Vietnam’s first UNESCO “World Cultural and Natural Heritage” site, is now a key destination for archaeological tourism. With artifacts spanning 30,000 years, including prehistoric tools and ancient tombs, Trang An offers visitors a unique glimpse into human history, promoting sustainable tourism.
That massive treasure has formed one of the three important criteria that helped Trang An become a rare dual heritage of the region recognised by UNESCO. According to information from the official website of this prestigious global organisation, “Trang An is an outstanding locale within Southeast Asia, for demonstrating the way early humans interacted with the natural landscape and adapted to major changes in climatic, geographical and environmental conditions, over more than 30,000 years. The long cultural history is closely associated with the geological evolution of the Trang An limestone massif in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene times, when the inhabitants endured some of the most turbulent climatic and environmental changes in Earth’s history, including repeated submergence of the landscape due to oscillating sea levels. Within the one compact landscape, there are many sites covering multiple periods and functions, comprising early human settlement systems.”
That archaeological tourism resource is like a “gold mine”, with endless reserves for Ninh Binh to exploit. Tran Song Tung, Vice Chairman of Ninh Binh Provincial People’s Committee, once said “The results of the discovery and research of a series of archaeological sites in Trang An’s caves have confirmed that humans have occupied and exploited the swampy and low-lying karst areas in this area very early, at least about 24,500 years ago. They have existed and developed continuously from the Paleolithic Age, through the Neolithic Age, to the Metal Age. from prehistory to history, from primitive times to civilisation”.
To make Trang An truly a link between the past and the present, between history and landscape, and between nature and people, as well as a centre and foundation for building a millennium heritage city in the near future, the formation of the best heritage tourism products, based on archaeological relic sites and artefacts, combined with ethnographic experiences, while meeting the requirements of interpreting the Heritage’s values according to UNESCO’s recommendations, is Ninh Binh leaders’ desire released at the forum on “Developing heritage tourism products”, on the occasion of Trang An welcoming the 10-year milestone of receiving UNESCO’s recognition.
Source: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex: new destination for archaeological tourism
