The relationship between the

Around the discovery of "Vietnam's largest cave " or " Hang Ma ", where hundreds of wooden coffins of the ancients were " hung " and " buried " in mountain caves near the banks of Ma and Luong rivers, In Hoi Xuan commune, Quan Hoa district, Thanh Hoa, a series of questions have been raised: What is the imposition of burial in Quan Hoa with the burial custom of residents in some neighboring countries?

Burial in the world

The burial of the dead, placing coffins in mountain caves is a fairly common phenomenon in the world, but mainly in the mountainous regions of Asia (especially in Turkey, China) and the Americas (where live Indians - Indians have ancestors from Asia more than 10,000 years ago.

The source of this practice is related to the symbolism of the cave - the first home of mankind. From there, the cave is identical to the womb of the woman, where humans are born, and to be reborn, resurrected, the dead need to return there. The cave is also considered a place to connect to heaven, the closest place to heaven is also the best place to bury the dead (the ancient Chinese emperors are often buried in caves so that their souls can easily escape to heaven, become ancestor - god).

The cave cave to bury the dead may be a natural mountain cave, but it can also be an artificial mountain cave (Egyptian pharaohs are buried in mountain-shaped pyramids). A variation of burial custom is the burial of dead people in stone coffins, in the surrounding stone tombs (also found in the Mong people) and the grave sites buried with stone pillars (also found in Muong people). .

' Hang ma ' in China

In China, ' ghost cave ' is no longer a shocking phenomenon because so far has been discovered in 13 provinces and autonomous regions, from western Sichuan province to eastern Fujian, from Shaanxi on the side. north to Guangdong south. Particularly in Shanghai City in Shaanxi Province, archaeologists found 680 sites with 4,220 graves (natural or artificial) with wooden coffins placed in caves or hanging on steep rocky slopes. . Most single grave caves are rectangular, 3m deep. In the mass graves, the kitchen, wells and shrines are carved on the walls.

The most famous tomb area in China is located on Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi Province, which is considered the 'Heavenly Palace' because of its beautiful scenery, and it is also the home of Taoism . Here, on the cliffs along the river, 20 to 300 meters from the water surface and towards the east there are hundreds of caves or grave graves, inside a dozen or more wooden coffins shaped houses or boats, weighing from 150 up to 500 kg.

Artifacts in the coffins show that the owners of these caves are the Bach Viet who lived in the Spring and Autumn Period - Warring States (770 to 221 BC). Due to the large number of tombs, widely distributed in a rugged and unique terrain, this mountain is honored as China's 'No.1 Natural Archaeological Museum' . In 1983, it was placed in the special conservation of the Chinese Government and in 2000, considered one of the 11 national geological reserves of China.

More than 10,000 people, including scholars and local people, have come up with different explanations. Some people believe that, more than 2,000 years ago, the river level is higher than today, so the ancients may have used boats carrying coffins to the caves not far away from the river. Others argue that the tombs on the mountain in the mountains are low, but due to geographic changes, they are raised to the height of today.

Others make the hypothesis : the ancient people created high caves on the cliffs to grave their ancestors without being devastated, and to do that they erected a system of scaffolds made of bamboo, wood used pulleys to pull coffins laden from boats. There are even those who have hypothesized about the ancient use of hot air balloons, cranes in moving coffins to the cliff. Some research groups also organize experiments, re-experiment folk methods in bringing people and heavy objects up. However, there is no accepted explanation.

' Ghost cave ' in Indonesia

In Indonesia, burial is persistent in some groups of Toraja and Sulawesi. Interestingly, some scholars believe that their ancient ancestors migrated from Dong Son, Vietnam or from Indochina. Due to the geographical situation - quite stable history, isolated, Toraja traditional culture until recently still preserved quite a lot of Dong Son customs such as tattooing, teeth flossing, betel and beating gongs or pounding. The mortar works when someone dies.

Toraja tombs look down to protect the fields,
village of living people. (Photo: tabisite.com)

In particular, the traditional house Toraja (tongkonan) has the same shape with the hammock roof of Ngoc Lu and Hoang Ha in Dong Son period. The researchers also saw Toraja bark pestles similar to the barking bark of Phung Nguyen Culture as well as the almost absolute similarity of a pattern between a Toraja bamboo pipe and a Tay Nguyen bamboo tube.

Up to now, in some places, the Toraja people still preserve their burial, ie bringing the coffins (usually of dignitaries and wealthy) to the artificial caves on the cliff. These coffins have a picture of a buffalo (mythical animal is the lord of the underworld) or a boat (similar to the house of a living person). Interestingly, they call the grave caves liang (cave) or lo'ko (hole) two words clearly very close to the two from the cave and the hole of the Vietnamese.

Human skull in Indonesia's " Ghost Cave " (Photo: tabisite.com)

For Toraja people, burial practices are associated with the notions of the resting place of the dead in the west or south, 'the place closest to heaven ', ' where there is a sun gate ', ' where there is a ladder connecting the earth to heaven ' , ' upstream of a river ' associated with ancestral legends they ' traveled to new lands '. And so, the ideal burial place is the mountain caves. The sending of the dead to those places is believed to help their souls be transcended, serene, so that they can bless the living and will be easily resurrected in a new life.

Currently, the funeral and grave of Toraja have become two ' tourist products ' of Indonesia.

The relationship between the burial in Quan Hoa and the relic of the Plain of Jars in Laos

One of the stone jars at the Plain of Jars. (Photo: CAND)

In Laos, Plain of Jars with more than 3,000 large jars of stone (high: 2 - 3 m, 25 m; mouth diameter: 1-3 m; heavy: 2-13 tons) is the most famous archaeological site and Also contains the most mysteries. In the future, more likely, it will be recognized as a world heritage.

So far there have been many interesting scientific legends and hypotheses around three issues: owner, chronology, function of stone jars here.

According to the scientific theory supported by many scholars so far, the main Jars of the Jars are a large grave with stone jars that are coffins or sub-bones of dead people who are cremated in a nearby cave. Most burial objects in the cave and in the chum date from the V century BC to the VIII century AD. Some objects depending on earthenware burial form close to the Dong Son bronze drums show the relationship of the Chum culture with Dong Son culture.

Meanwhile, in Thailand, archaeologists discovered an important crest at Ongbah cave with more than 90 boat-shaped wooden coffins dating back to 403 BC to 25 AD . Fortunately, among the burial items that escaped digging, looting of the locals, there are still 6 bronze drums left. In particular, skeletons in coffins show their owners are taller than indigenous Southeast Asian residents. This made some scholars unite the owners of the casket in Ongbah cave with the owner of the Field of Jars, then, with legends as well as a once-hypothetical scientific hypothesis of the diaspora of those Indo-European origin from Central Asia through India to Southwest China to Indochina.

Now, perhaps the biggest mystery of Quan Hoa's dynamics is their unusual size. Hopefully, future DNA analyzes will answer these mysteries and show the link between the owners of the burial in Quan Hoa, the Chum field and in more remote areas.