LATE PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE VAM CO RIVER BASIN: CHARACTERISTICS, CHRONOLOGY AND CULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

Vam Co river basin is located on the transition from the Southeast region to Southwest region. This region has a system of Prehistoric sites with many stages: late Neolithic period to early Bronze period to the the Iron Age (4,000 - 2,000 BP) and continued to early of Anno Domini.The results of archaeological research have identified the stages of late Prehistoric cultural development in the Vam Co river basin, which expanded from the ancient alluvial higher land to the new alluvial lower. Each period has typical cultural characteristics that represent the natural environmental conditions and social life of ancient residents. Late Prehistoric sites period in the Vam Co river basin have an important position in the transitional development process to the early historical period in the Southwest Vietnam and was the end of the Prehistoric in this region. It making an important contribution to the process of forming early urban (sermy urban) culture in the Southern Vietnam in the early AD.