Excavation at 3000 yr old Vietnam site reveals ancient child deaths.Byline: ANI Washington, July 3 (ANI): An archaeological excavation in southern Vietnam of a site more than 3000 years old has shed new light on how the death of young children was viewed by community members and uncovered the oldest clear evidence of rice agriculture in the region. The excavation, led by Professor Peter Bellwood and Dr Marc Oxenham from the ANU Anu (ā`n  ), ancient sky god of Sumerian origin, worshiped in Babylonian religion. (Australian National University Australian National University, located in Canberra and state-sponsored, founded 1946 as Australia's only completely research-oriented university. Originally limited to graduate studies, it expanded in 1960, merging with Canberra University College (est. 1929). ) School of Archaeology and
Anthropology, studied a site 3-4000 years old named An Son.
The research team worked with students from ANU in collaboration with the Centre for Archaeological Research, Hanoi and members of the An Son village community. The team's findings suggest that death in young children was so common that community members were unlikely to revere Revere, city (1990 pop. 42,786), Suffolk co., E Mass., a residential suburb of Boston, on Massachusetts Bay; settled c.1630, set off from Chelsea and named for Paul Revere 1871, inc. as a city 1914. the death of their offspring until they had survived for more than five years. "The burial of a new born baby without any associated grave goods and positioned within discarded kitchen material may suggest high levels of infant mortality (hardware) infant mortality - It is common lore among hackers (and in the electronics industry at large) that the chances of sudden hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's time since first use (that is, until the relatively distant time at which enough mechanical , as well as a reduced emotional investment in very young children that may not live long anyway," said Professor Bellwood. "On the other hand, the burial of a 12 year old child with high quality ceramics and stone tools might mean children that survived the danger years - birth to five years old in most cases - could be revered by family or community members in death," he added. The excavation has also revealed the oldest clear evidence of rice agriculture in southern Vietnam and uncovered the varied diets and agricultural practices of the pre-historic community. "While this excavation has revealed the earliest clear evidence of rice agriculture in southern Vietnam, their diets were extremely broad," said Dr Oxenham. "A wealth of animal bones - some probably domesticated do·mes·ti·cate tr.v. do·mes·ti·cat·ed, do·mes·ti·cat·ing, do·mes·ti·cates 1. To cause to feel comfortable at home; make domestic. 2. To adopt or make fit for domestic use or life. 3. a. - attest to the dietary breadth of these early Vietnamese, including species of cattle, pig, deer, freshwater crocodile, shellfish and reptile and amphibian amphibian, in zoology amphibian, in zoology, cold-blooded vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia. There are three living orders of amphibians: the frogs and toads (order Anura, or Salientia), the salamanders and newts (order Urodela, or Caudata), and the remains," he added. "We also found a large number of stone adzes, many shouldered to accommodate long-since rotted wooden handles. That suggests a significant amount of forest clearance was occurring, presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. to increase the area of cultivatable land," he further added. The excavation team has also found a large quantity of pottery from humble cooking vessels to massive, ornately-incised and patterned ceramics. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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