Archaeologists Find Ancient Musical Instruments

Musical instruments thought to be about 3,000 years old have been found by a team of Vietnamese archeologists.

Known as lithophones, the ancient instruments are typically made of 11 slabs of stone.

The lithophones were found in the southern province of Binh Duong in early January at a site that stretches some 20ha near a small hill in My Loc village in Tan My Commune of Tan Uyen District.

The broken instruments were buried deep in an 8sq.m pit, said Dr Bui Chi Hoang, deputy director of the Archaeology Centre of the Southern Institute for Social and Human Sciences.

Hoang said the first discovery of ancient lithophones took place at an archeaological dig in Binh Da Village in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

"This finding marks a milestone in the long history of traditional musical instruments in the country," he said.

In 1949, lithophones were also found by French ethnologist Georges Condominas in N’Dut Lieng Krac Village of the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac. The instrument was exhibited in Paris a year later.

Hoang said an ancient Vietnamese lithophone is also housed in a museum in Los Angeles.

Ancient lithophones have been found in Loc Tan (Binh Phuoc Province) and Di Linh (Lam Dong Province) as well.

Prof Le Xuan Diem, of the Southern Institute of Social and Human Sciences, said the instrument was previously believed to be a musical instrument of the people in the Central Highlands.

"But recent discoveries have shown that lithophones were also used in ancient villages along Dong Nai River."

The My Loc archeological site was jointly excavated by the Archeology Centre and Binh Duong Museum under a programme conducted by the Binh Duong Department for Sciences and Technology from December 6 last year to January 12.

In addition to ancient lithophones, archeologists found hundreds of pieces of stone tools such as axes, hoes, graters, and porcelain wares, including pots, jars and bowls.

These remains have helped archeologists date the site to 3,000 to 3,500 years ago.

The discovery also sheds light on the history of the eastern section of the South Viet Nam and Binh Duong Province. — VNS

GGG Ping

The "Ndutliengkray" lithophones

To date in Vietnam, a few hundred chipped stone bars that resonate when struck, have been discovered and classified. With all the necessary components at hand, many of these "resonant rocks" may be arranged into sets and units creating musical instruments termed lithophones.

Lithophones as age-old percussion musical instrumemts, have been unearthed in the regions of the M’nong, the Ma and the Raglai ethnic groups in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and southern delta. According to studies on recently-exca-vated lithophones, the first Vietnamese lithopone appeared 3000 - 4000 years ago.

In 1939, a few foreigners had an opportunity to watch and comment on local inhabitants playing the resonant rocks. But not until February 2 . 1949, was "the question of lithopones" opened and further assessed with convincing scientific conclusions. It began when local ethnic road-builders unearthed, by accident, sevaral exotic stone-bars embedded deep underground in Ndut Lieng Krak villgage (Dac Lac province). Two days later, Georges Condominas, a French ethnologist in charge of research at the French Department for Overseas Scientific studies, on a study tour to Indochina, came to hear of this spectacular incident while drinking "ruou can" (pipe-wine) with a group of the M’nong Gar (a local minority). The following day, he went direct to the excavation site, re-setting the scene, making measurements, engaging in interviews, studying and scribbling. Some time later an entire ten stone set of bars along with another broken set were sent to Paris for safekeeping and further study.

Soon after, Andre sheaffner, Director of the Department of Ethnic Musicology at the Anthropology Museum of France, asserted that the 10 stone bars were components of a very ancient lithophone. Then, Georges Condominas presented a study entitled "Pre-historic Lithophones from Ndut Lieng Krak" at the Anthropology in stitute of France in 1950.

The study made a fairly detailed presentation of the archaeological site of Ndut Lieng Krak and the discovery of the artifacts, as well as a specific description of the stone bars with their forms, shapes, sizes, weights and their lithic substances. Comparisons were made with some other similar types of lithophones such as the stone gong of Vietnam, the king of China, and the bonang of Indonesia. A hypothesis was introduced ragarding the location of their finds.

What’s more significant is that Condominas made a subsequent assertion that:

On the basis of the material of the stone bars (a natural mix of silex, mica, cordierite, quartz and graphite), it is supposed they were made of the rock tapped from the mountains of the region, which asserts the indigenous character of the musical instrument;

In comparison with the chipped stone bars known in the workd, it was concluded that some of the Ndut Lieng Krak lithophones were prehistoric polished instruments not previously discovered (5 bars of 80 cm, the longest 100.5cm) which added to their significance;

Considering their manufacture, it was supposed the stone bars had traces of the stone bars had traces of the Bac Son Civilazation that saserts their ancient history;

In general, the Bac Son stone implements have a rough form, but these lithophones were of a very high technological standard, proof of ther sophistication;

On the basis of the features of the sounds of the stone bars. which produce a delicate sound even with a gentle tap five of them giving a range of five harmonious sounds, another two the initial two sounds of an octave), the fine musical quality of the instruments may be justified though they were made in ancient times.

The Ndut Lieng Krak lithophones are the rarest prehistoric musical instruments discovered in Vietnam, attesting to the developed culture of native people on this soil. You cannot speak about the Ndut Lieng Krak lithophones without mentioning the name of Bearges Condominas, the eminent French ethnologist who showed obfectivity in his studies and made great contributions to the understanding of this ancient musical instrument.

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