Burnt Rice from Four Archaeological Sites in Northern Vietnam

Tóm tắt

Burnt/charred rice is reported from four archaeological sites. These include: the Den (Vietnamese: Dền) citadel in Me Linh district, Hanoi, dated to 3730±50 - 2630±50 years; the brick tomb of the Six-Dynasty period (4^th - 6^th centuries) at the Ciputra urban area (Tu Liem district, Hanoi); Noi Lam valley (Ninh Binh); and the Xa Tac (Vietnamese: Xã Tắc) worshipping esplanade (Dong Da district, Hanoi) dating back to the 10^th - 11^th centuries. Comparison of the sizes of burnt rice seeds from archaeological sites in Northern Vietnam indicates that rice seeds mainly belong to the round plump (short round) type, which includes summer glutinous rice and field glutinous rice. These findings suggest that rice became a popular crop in the life of ancient Vietnamese as early as 3,000 years ago, and was widely distributed in the North of the country.