The secret of Vietnam's only 3000-year-old animal statue: Discovered in a scary place, is a national treasure!

This animal statue was discovered at the Doc Chua archaeological site in Binh Duong province, and is the only artifact with no similar artifacts in nearly 2,000 years.

Accordingly, a bronze animal statue with a shape very similar to a dog was discovered at the Doc Chua archaeological site in Tan My commune, Tan Uyen district, Binh Duong province, dating back over 3,000 years. The statue was discovered in an ancient tomb near the ancient residence, considered a burial object buried with the dead.

In the past 2,000 years, archaeologists have never seen a statue with the same or similar shape as this one. To this day, archaeologists are still looking for the answer to the question of what exactly this statue is and what is its purpose?

3,000-year-old animal statue kept at Binh Duong museum.

It is known that the animal statue is 5.4cm high, 6.4cm long, made of bronze, has a blue-gray color due to weathering and rust. The animal statue has 4 legs, stands on a rectangular pedestal (base), has 4 curved joints towards the feet, the pedestal and legs are cast together. The head has a long snout, a wide mouth on both sides, on the top of the head, between 1 ear there is a sharp edge with a broken mark. The 2 sides are decorated with a zigzag sun-shaped seam pattern that looks like a horse saddle. The tail of this animal statue is quite large, the end of the tail is curved into 3 circles, one of which is broken. This animal is male, with quite large genitals.

Close-up of controversial ancient animal statue.

There are many different opinions surrounding this animal statue, some people guess that this is a deer because it has horns, some people guess that this is a horse, some people think that this is a hunting dog statue.

Associate Professor - Dr. Bui Chi Hoang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Southern region, Director of the Center for Archaeology and a member of the National Cultural Heritage Council, said: 'To create an artifact of such complexity requires its owner to be a community with highly developed bronze casting skills. It must be determined that this is a rare artifact . It is not just an ordinary artifact, but perhaps one of the products with spiritual and religious significance of the Southern community, in the process of conquering this land'.

The Doc Chua animal statue attracts archaeologists at the site.

There are many hypotheses about the use of this statue. Some archaeologists believe that this statue is a burial object, so it belongs to an individual. However, no one knows the exact answer to what it is for. Currently, the secrets surrounding this 3000-year-old animal statue are still unknown. This animal statue is currently kept at the Binh Duong Provincial Museum and was recognized as a national treasure in 2013.