16 May 2006 (Thanh Nien News, Vietnam Net Bridge) – An unusual prehistoric tool manufacture site has been found in the Lam Dong Province of Central Vietnam, unusual because the material used was opal, a rare material for that region.
Prehistoric manufacturing site discovered in Lam Dong
A 4,000 year-old rock tool manufacturing centre has been discovered in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, according to Dr Bui Chi Hoang from the HCM City Archeological Research Centre (Southern Institute of Social Sciences).
This prehistoric site is an opal rock manufacturing area where the team led by Doctor Hong has collected at least 100 items such as broken pieces of working tools, hoes and axes and opals of white, black and reddish brown colours. Not far from the site is also an opal mine believed to be the input area of the site.
Doctor Hoang said that such an opal mining and manufacturing site was rare in the southeastern region of Vietnam. Most discoveries have been schist or bazan rock working tools. As for objects made from opal, only very few of them have been found.
Related Books:
– Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History by P. S. Bellwood and I. Glover (Eds)
