Dong Son Culture | Prehistoric Culture, Indochina | Britannica

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Dong Son culture, important prehistoric culture of Indochina; it is named for a village in northern Vietnam where many of its remains have been found. The Dong Son site shows that bronze culture was introduced into Indochina from the north, probably about 300 bc, the date of the earliest Dong Son remains. Dong Son was not solely a bronze culture; its people also had iron implements and Chinese cultural artifacts. Nevertheless, their bronze work, especially the production of ritual bronze kettle drums, was of a high order. The Dong Son people also are distinguished by their great stone monuments, built for religious functions, which are similar to monuments found in Polynesia.

The Dong Son were a seafaring people who apparently traveled and traded throughout Southeast Asia. They also cultivated rice and are credited with originating the process of changing the Red River delta area into a great rice-growing region. The Dong Son culture, transformed by further Chinese and then Indian influence, became the basis of the general civilization of the region. Remnants of the culture have been found dating from as late as the 16th century, though most of it disappeared after the region was conquered by China in the 2nd century bc.