Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (4) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.4.045-056

Annotation:  Early Middle Paleolithic Industries in Southeastern Dagestan Middle Paleolithic Bone Retouchers: Size or Proportions Shulbinka Paleolithic Site, Eastern Kazakhstan, Revisited Con Moong Cave: A Stratifi ed Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Site in Northern Vietnam Novopetrovka III—an Early Neolithic Site in the Western Amur Basin and Its Chronology Peculiarities of Using 2D Electrical Resistivity Tomography in Caves Elk Figurine from Tourist-2, Novosibirsk: Technological and Stylistic Features Foundries at Stary Tartas-5—an Early Bronze Age Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe Wells as a Source of Cultural and Chronological Information: The Case of Kamennyi Ambar, Southern Tr Mobility of the Suzdal Opolye Settlers in 900–1150 AD Descendants of Eleudei: The Problem of Oirat-Buryat Ethnic Contacts Floral Designs on Sacrifi cial Towels from an Old Believers’ Prayer House The Origin of the Okunev Population, Southern Siberia: The Evidence of Physical Anthropology and Gen The Paleogenetic Study of Bertek-33, an Afanasyevo Cemetery on the Ukok Plateau, the Altai Mountains   

Con Moong Cave:
A Stratified Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Site
in Northern Vietnam

A.V. Kandyba¹, Nguyen Khac Su², S.A. Gladyshev¹, Nguyen Gia Doi², A.M. Chekha¹, and A.P. Derevianko¹

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Phan Chu Chin, 61, Hanoi, Vietnam

Here, we outline the findings of comprehensive archaeological studies in Con Moong Cave, northern Vietnam, carried out by the Russian-Vietnamese Expedition, with the participation of Australian specialists, in 2010-2014. The cave is a stratified site, whose habitation deposits span a period beginning ca 42 ka BP. A detailed description of finds is provided. Diachronic changes in artifact types, use of raw materials, and technology are presented. Lithics from layers K-S represent the Early Upper Paleolithic San Vi culture. Finds from layer K include core-shaped debris, flakes, and a discoidal side-scraper (or sumatralith). Tools were made on quartzite pebbles. Finds from layer L, dating to ca 36 ka BP, attest to substantial changes in the choice of lithic raw material: in addition to quartzite, mostly andesite and, less often, limestone, basalt, and certain sedimentary rocks were employed. Primary reduction was not preceded by preparation of nuclei. Flakes are large and medium-sized. Tools include a sumatralith and an end-scraper. The richest material comes from Con Moong layers Q and S, dating to 26-21 ka BP. Preforms consist of pebble cores with unprepared striking platforms. Nuclei include flat-parallel, radial, and irregular varieties. New tools in the assemblage include choppers, longitudinal and transverse convergent side-scrapers, and discoidal sumatraliths, as well as Hoabinhian axes and a unilateral axe (sumatralith). We conclude that archaeological remains from Con Moong Cave provide evidence of the evolution of the San Vi culture from its emergence to its replacement by the Hoabinhian Technocomplex ~25 ka BP. Lithic industries from layers K and L correlate with one of the earliest stages in the peopling of this region by Homo sapiens.

Keywords: Northern Vietnam, Con Moong Cave, San Vi lithic industry, Sonvian, Hoabinhian, sumatraliths, paleoecology