On November 9, 2025, at the Hanoi Museum, the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports officially opened the thematic exhibition “Archaeological Discoveries from Vuon Chuoi” and announced the 2025 scientific research findings on the Vuon Chuoi archaeological site.
Located in Hoai Duc District, Hanoi, the Vuon Chuoi site is a representative archaeological location of the Metal Age in northern Vietnam. It reflects the continuous development of an ancient village over nearly 4,000 years, spanning the Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, Go Mun, Dong Son, and Post-Dong Son cultural periods.
Since its discovery in 1969, Vuon Chuoi has undergone 11 excavation campaigns, covering a total area of 7,555 square meters. Notably, the excavation of the western area (from March 2024 to March 2025), spanning 6,000 square meters, fundamentally revealed the spatial layout of the site, along with significant remains related to residential areas, daily activities, stone and wood production workshops, burial grounds, and numerous representative artifacts from the Pre-Dong Son and Dong Son cultural phases.
The recent systematic processing and analysis of relics and artifacts, conducted by the Hanoi Museum in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, have yielded a number of new discoveries:
In terms of site remains, spatial analysis of the settlement indicates the continuous development of an ancient Vietnamese village through successive periods. From early clustered habitation on elevated mounds, surrounded by moats connected to natural waterways, residential spaces gradually expanded into lower surrounding areas, where stilt houses and long houses emerged. Human skeletal studies reveal that the practice of front tooth extraction was common around 3,500 years ago during the late Phung Nguyen period but later disappeared. Handicraft production, including jade carving, pottery making, woodworking, and bronze casting, reached a high level of specialization. In particular, the jade production area was systematically organized, suggesting the possible presence of an adjacent ritual space.
Regarding artifacts, the 2025 processing phase handled more than 15,000 pottery fragments, nearly 5,000 tons of soil containing botanical remains, and approximately 15,000 artifacts made of stone, bronze, ceramic, wood, bone, and iron. Although analysis is ongoing, initial findings have identified numerous rare artifacts appearing for the first time in studies of the Metal Age in northern Vietnam and Hanoi, such as green jade axes-adzes, phoenix-headed bird-shaped ornaments, and a collection of jade objects symbolizing the power of elite leaders.
These materials further reaffirm the exceptional historical and cultural significance of the Vuon Chuoi site during the Metal Age in northern Vietnam. Vuon Chuoi functioned as a residential settlement, burial ground, and craft production complex that developed continuously across the Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, Go Mun, Dong Son, and Post–Dong Son cultural periods. The site stands as a representative example of an ancient village shaped by wet-rice agricultural communities who pioneered, settled, and mastered the Red River Delta nearly 4,000 years ago, laying the foundations for the formation of the early Vietnamese state.
In recognition of its outstanding values, the Vuon Chuoi archaeological site was officially designated as a city-level heritage site by the Hanoi People’s Committee under Decision No. 3134/QD-UBND dated June 23, 2025.
The thematic exhibition “Archaeological Discoveries from Vuon Chuoi” is organized into five sections: The Journey of Discovery; Convergence and Crystallization of Cultures; Preservation and Promotion of Heritage Values; Scholars Associated with Vuon Chuoi; and The Archaeologist Experience Corner. The exhibition presents nearly 1,000 documents, artifacts, research materials, photographs, and graphic reconstructions illustrating artifact types and daily life in the ancient Vuon Chuoi village, collected and studied over many years. Advanced exhibition technologies are employed, including 3D visualization and 3D mapping, along with short films recreating the daily life of Pre-Dong Son and Dong Son communities.
On this occasion, the Hanoi Museum also launched the publication “Exploring Vuon Chuoi (Hanoi) through the 2024-2025 Excavation Seasons,” which documents the site’s discovery journey, presents new findings and insights from the 2024-2025 excavations, affirms Vuon Chuoi as a convergence and crystallization of ancient Vietnamese cultural values, and highlights the enduring vitality of Vuon Chuoi’s archaeological heritage in contemporary life.
Uyen Phuong