Published:  00:00 Friday - July 17, 2009

Hundreds of objects on display at the National Museum of Vietnamese History can give people insight into an ancient culture that flourished 2,000-2,500 years ago.

The museum has launched an exhibition featuring artifacts form the Sa Huynh Culture, on the 100th anniversary of the culture first being discovered in Vietnam.

The Sa Huynh Culture is the name given to the urn field (jar burial) culture of the coastal plains in central and southern Vietnam. Archaeological sites stretching from the Mekong Delta to just south of the Tonkin region have been discovered.

Sa Huynh sites are rich in locally worked iron artifacts, such as axes, swords, spearheads, knives and sickles.

The Sa Huynh cremated the dead and buried them in jars covered with lids, a practice unique to the culture. Offerings usually accompanied the jar burials.

The most typical style of burial of the Sa Huynh Culture in the early Iron Age was in burial jars.

The Sa Huynh’s burial jars vary in size and design, but are mostly cylindrical and egg-shaped with conical lids.

The culture is also typified by its unique ear rings featuring two-headed animals. They were usually made from jade, but also from glass. Beads were also commonly found in Sa Huynh burials, most commonly made from glass, carnelian, agate, olivine and gold.

"The diversity of objects and the various types of Sa Huynh artifacts have surprised us. Our ancestors were great craftsmen and left us a heritage that is as expensive and interesting as other ancient civilisations around the world," said Pham Quoc Quan, the museum’s director.

"After 100 years studying the culture we have found some remarkable evidence, but the number of things on display here is limited," said Quan.

"There are gaps among the artifacts here that need to be filled with new objects from recent and upcoming discoveries and excavations."

The opening ceremony of the exhibition drew hundreds of experts, collectors and visitors including many from overseas.

"I arrived here by chance... but it’s really a golden opportunity for me to learn about one of the country’s ancient cultures," said Marie Johnson, from the US.

"I’m not an expert, but I’m really interested in the artifacts displayed here, which are wide ranging and beautiful.

"It’s also the first time I’ve heard about these kinds of jars; it’s an amazing concept," she said.

The exhibition has been in co-ordination with the Institute of Archaeology and the Museum of Anthropology.

An earthernware coffin found in the Sa Huynh salt marsh in Duc Pho District, Quang Ngai Province, in 1909 by a French scientist, was a landmark in the discovery of the culture. So far, about 80 sites related to the Sa Huynh Culture have been unearthed.

The exhibition will last for several months at the museum at 1 Pham Ngu Lao Street, Ha Noi.