Objective For researchers, artifacts from ancient cultures often generate just as many questions as they do answers. By examining the symbols on bronze drums from Ancient Vietnam, students will begin to think like archaeologists: Why were these symbols put on musical instruments? What can we learn about the Dong Son culture from these musical instruments? What questions remain? Background Information for Educators MIM’s Ancient Vietnam display features ancient bronze instruments from prehistoric civilizations of Vietnam. The Dong Son culture (1000 BCE–300 CE) some 1,700 to 3,000 years ago was centered on the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam, not far from the modern capital, Hanoi. Although this ancient culture completely disappeared, artifacts were left behind from which researchers can learn. Archaeological excavations of Dong Son sites suggest that it was a warlike culture and that its people developed complex agricultural methods and were highly skilled in ceramics and bronze-casting. Dong Son people were spread out across the region in a network of “chiefdoms” connected by rivers and canals. When the Han Chinese colonized the region in the early first millennium, they counted approximately one million members of this culture! The most important and distinctive artifacts of the Dong Son are the drums that they cast from bronze, called bronze drums. We know that the Dong Son people highly valued these drums and that they played them during important rituals and ceremonies. All of the examples on display at MIM are on loan from Chan and Quynh Kieu, who possess the largest private collection of Dong Son artifacts. The surfaces of the drums are elaborately ornamented with repeating symbols that give us tantalizing clues about the culture. In order to examine the symbols more easily, one of MIM’s curators and MIM’s exhibit designer made graphic renderings of certain sections of the drums. These line drawings made it easier to see shapes and distinguish decorations, since the drums’ surfaces are heavily corroded from having been buried for almost two thousand years. We can only make educated guesses at the meaning of the symbols. The “sun” or “star” pattern at the center of the tympanum (top) is probably only negative space, between “seed” icons. Birds (possibly cranes) are also visible. There is imagery depicting a ritual procession. It includes crested warriors and a house or religious structure. The figure that looks like it is being pulled behind the warriors may represent a prisoner. Closer view of tympanum (top) on bronze drum in MIM’s Ancient Vietnam display ANCIENT VIETNAM Tool Kit III MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS CAST IN ANCIENT BRONZE MIM’s Ancient Vietnam display That same bronze drum features what appear to be three individuals (possibly ritual leaders) on a boat with a water buffalo. We believe that the buffalo was meant for a sacrifice, similar to ritual offerings still performed by tribal groups in Southeast Asia and southern China today. Bronze drums may include lots of ancient symbols, but the drums themselves have become symbols, too; they’ve become symbols of Vietnamese culture! In fact, a postage stamp was released that pictured the drums. The Vietnamese are very proud of the Dong Son culture, and the drums and other artifacts they made, because these represent a highly sophisticated civilization that existed in Vietnam a very long time ago, before the advent and influence of outside cultures.