Bronze Drums Research Articles

Design of ethnic patterns based on shape grammar and artificial neural network

Batik is a traditional handicraft of ethnic minorities in southwestern China’s Guizhou province. It carries distinctive features, and inherits profound artistic and cultural values. However, the empirical design model of batik patterns is not fast or diverse enough to meet the highly personalized market demands. Moreover, it is difficult to parametrize the complex ethnic patterns with mathematical models. Hence, the design of batik patterns cannot satisfy the visual cognitive needs of consumers, which are constantly changing, fuzzy, and personalized. In other words, the visual cognitive needs of consumers have not been fully considered in the parametrization and design of batik patterns. To solve the problem, this paper puts forward a generative design method for batik patterns based on shape grammar, and relies on the artificial neural network (ANN) to model the nonlinear mapping between design parameters and visual cognitive image (VCI) values. The three-layer ANN model was optimized with the genetic algorithm (GA) to generate new patterns, and optimize the composition of their VCIs. The workflow and effectiveness of the proposed method were explained and verified through experiments on the generative design of bronze drum patterns, which have rich ethnic and religious connotations. The experimental results show that our method can predict the VCI values of the composition, provide the optimal parameter solution of the VCI values, and decompile the conceptual prototype from the pattern composition that best meets the visual cognitive needs of consumers.

Bridging the time gap in the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia and Southwest China

Bronze working is a nonnative technical craft which was incorporated relatively late in southern China and Southeast Asia. Debates about the origins of the Bronze Age in these regions hinge on finding the “missing” geographic linkages facilitating the cultural transfer of knowledge during the second millennium BCE. We provide the first series of AMS assays from Bronze Age sites in the Lake Dian basin in Yunnan and definitively connect the timing of tin-bronze metalworking in southwestern China with sites in Northeast Thailand to the 11th to 10th c. BC. Using Bayesian modeling to calibrate dates from stratified deposits, we propose a revised chronology for the Bronze Age and present a division spanning three phases (early, middle, and late). The findings indicate the establishment of settlements beginning in the early 12th c. BC, accompanied by the incorporation of copper-base metallurgy (1100/1000–800 BCE), a middle (800–600 BCE) and late ‘Dian’ period (600–250 BCE) that is identified with the emergence of a bronze drum culture. The revised chronology not only pushes back the timing of copper-base technology in central Yunnan by at least five centuries before the material medium was co-opted by elites as a means of wealth production. Temporal correspondences between the Dian sequence and other prehistoric complexes in the region also strengthen arguments for a potential technological link between Yunnan and Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) and the transfer of tin-bronze metallurgical knowledge across geographic regions.

Provenance study on ‘Big bronze drums’: a method to investigate the ancient bronze industry of Guangxi, Southwest China from Han to Tang dynasty (around 200 BC–900 AC)

Previous provenance studies on bronze drums mainly focused on ore sources, yet ignored the significance of big bronze drum casting, which represents the highest level of bronze manufacturing techniques, as an important part of the bronze industry of a frontier region under the specific historical background. This paper, for the first time, not only presented the analytical results of the composition and the microstructure of 50 new samples from big bronze drums, but also compared their lead isotope to the published data of 196 samples from 7 types of bronze drum, as well as 112 ore samples from Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou Province and Vietnam. In addition, this paper introduced the casting tradition of bronze drums through both of composition analysis and metallographic examination. The comparison of lead isotope between the above 7 types and 4 regions indicated that there existed a very close relation among the bronze drums, and the local metal ore sources were generally employed to cast drums according to the convenient principles as well as the sphere of tribal influence. Nonetheless, both exchange and communication existed.

Петроглифы, которые исчезли: наскальное искусство Макао

The article represents petroglyphs of Macau (Aomen). This site with engravings was lost and gone forever (because of industrial pollution), but we have some copies and descriptions of it. Though it was quiet restricted in dimensions, but contained not only interlacement of lines and geometric figures, but also images of two big boats as well, with quiet developed construction: with upper deck, long bowsprit and, possibly, with portable mast. The same ships but engraved more clearly one can see in petroglyphs of Zhuhai at the site with rock-art closest to Macau. These ships seem to have some additional details such as side ports, helm and anchor. These observations confirm a high level in shipbuilding and navigation among peoples of Wu and Yue kingdoms known to us due to historical records. For petroglyphs of Eastern and Southern China we have another figurative line in order to compare with, i. e. engravings on bronze implements and, first of all, bronze drums. The war-boats engraved on drums have some similarities in construction with boats engraved on rocky surface. Due to these resemblance petroglyphs of Macau (and Zhuhai) could be attributed to Dongson-Dian civilization because bronze drums served as indicator for this super unity. On the basis of this resemblance we can previously date petroglyphs of Macau with the last ages BC or the first ages AD. The creators of rock-art galleries in the region of Zhujiang River estuary were very probably connected with migration of one of the Boyue tribes.

Dong Son drums from Timor-Leste: prehistoric bronze artefacts in Island Southeast Asia

Abstract

DONG SON BRONZE DRUM - THE WORK OF THE LAC VIET PEOPLE

Bronze drums are widely distributed, broader than the range of a nation. Therefore, the identification of each kind of drum is a basic subject, should be concerned. In determining the tribal identity of the drum, the classification of drum is the key stage, the relationship between the objective of the classification and classification criteria is the relation as shape and shadow, if there is no right criteria then the result of division will be difficult to reach the desired goal. Likewise, the criterion of the pattern on the bronze drum brought to the affirmation is the Dong Son bronze drum of the Lac Viet people. And the parallel is the affirmation of the culture, way of life, residence of the nation created the drum.

Review: The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE by Catherine Churchman

Review: The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE by Catherine Churchman

The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE by Catherine Churchman

The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE by Catherine Churchman

Sound And Celebration of Death: Gong Ensembles in The Secondary Mortuary Rituals of the Jarai (Central Vietnam) Compared with Those of the Dayak Benuaq (East Kalimantan, Indonesia). Do They Originate from the Dong Son Culture?

The Jarai people are an Austronesian language speaking group living in Central Vietnam. They reached mainland Southeast Asia from Northern Borneo, or possibly from the Malay Peninsula, around the 5th century B.C. as part of the more general migratory movement that took the Austronesian people from Formosa to Madagascar, westwards, and to Easter Island, eastwards. The Pa thi ritual is one of the most remarkable of the many ceremonies celebrated by the Jarai, in terms of its magnificence and the complexity of the elements involved. Pa thi (the “tomb abandonment”) is a secondary mortuary ritual that allows the spirits of the dead to reach their final destination. When the ritual is held, the tomb, carefully decorated with symbolic elements, becomes the centre of a sumptuous feast, lasting three days, which includes gong music, dances and buffalo sacrifices. The aim of this paper is to analyse some features of the Pa thi ceremony and to compare them with some of the scenes depicted on the Dong Son bronze drums (Heger I type). In fact, as many scholars such as Goloubew (1929) and Bemet Kempers (1988) have pointed out, there is a connection between the people of Dong Son and “men who might be the more direct ancestors of the Indonesians we know from the archipelago”. As evidence of this connection, these scholars explicitly mentioned the culture of the Dayak people of Borneo and the mountain populations living in Central Vietnam. In addition to my analysis of the Jarai ritual, I will give a few comments on the Kwangkai, the secondary mortuary ritual of the Dayak Benuaq people (East Kalimantan, Indonesia). Rather than attempting to provide a definite analysis of the bronze drums, this paper intends to open some new perspectives for a better understanding of the scenes depicted on the bronze drums as well as giving an interpretation based on the comparison with living rituals.

The People between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200-750 CE, written by Catherine Churchman, 2016

The People between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200-750 CE, written by Catherine Churchman, 2016

An Introduction to Dr. Nishimura Masanari’s Research on the Lung Khe Citadel

Abstract This paper introduces Nishimura Masanari’s research on the Lung Khe Citadel, which was built in the second century ce and continuously occupied until the end of the fifth or early sixth century. Nishimura explored four main topics. First, based on the large-scale bronze workshop in the citadel, he argued that the casting of the bronze drum there had a political purpose. Second, he proved that the Lung Khe Citadel was Long Bien, not Luy Lau. Third, he discovered several types of artifacts, including a table-shaped stone mortar (pesani) and kendi that show cultural affinity with artifacts found in Tra Kieu and Oc Eo. Hence, the cross-regional Nanhai trade and political power at Lung Khe might have reciprocally stimulated each other. Finally, Nishimura advanced the far-reaching hypothesis that the prosperity of Chinese Buddhism might have stemmed from the Lung Khe area, on the basis of his study of roof tile ends with mask or lotus petal motifs.

The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE. By Catherine Churchman . Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. 266 pp. ISBN: 9781442258600 (cloth, also available as e-book).

The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE. By Catherine Churchman . Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. 266 pp. ISBN: 9781442258600 (cloth, also available as e-book).

Study on Inscritions on the Bronze Drum of Dong Son Discovered at Vietnam

Study on Inscritions on the Bronze Drum of Dong Son Discovered at Vietnam

The Social Value of Elephant Tusks and Bronze Drums among Certain Societies in Eastern Indonesia

This study seeks to explain how and why elephant tusks and bronze kettledrums came to occupy such an important social and ritual position in certain societies in eastern Indonesia. It argues that these two objects were selected because they came to be associated with ideas of authority and rain/fertility. In making this claim, this study suggests that the ideas and symbolism associated with elephants and bronze drums in both India and Southeast Asia found relevance in, and were thus adopted by, specific societies in eastern Indonesia. Contemporary Dutch East India Company accounts and local traditions provide evidence of the role of the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit and the Makassarese kingdom of Gowa as the principal transmitters of these ideas through an extensive international trade in the highly coveted spices of eastern Indonesia.

Aleti Tunu Bibi: Contextualizing a New Rock Art Site in East Timor and the Wider Asia-Pacific Region

Recent archaeological surveys and excavations on the island of Atauro, East Timor, identified several rock shelters with evidence for prehistoric occupation. Well-preserved rock art was found at one of these sites, Aleti Tunu Bibi. Here we present a description of the site and rock art, including the motifs and design elements, and interpret the site within the context of East Timor and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Most of the art was painted in red (likely ochre) or, in a few circumstances, black pigment (likely charcoal). Ochre was found in Pleistocene and early Holocene layers during excavations of the site. The only observed drawing, the outline of a boat in dry black charcoal, may represent a “boat of the dead” similar to those depicted on Dongson drums in the region, one of which was found recently in East Timor. That a boat is depicted in the drawing suggests that it may have been executed sometime after 2000 b.p. The Aleti Tunu Bibi rock art fits within the description of other East Timor painted rock art and shares some attributes with other sites in East Timor. However, the Aleti Tunu Bibi rock art is also distinct from sites on the mainland, and its presence on Atauro Island supports previous hypotheses of substantial local or temporal variation, and possibly indicates a pre-Austronesian origin for this tradition on the island.

Book Review: Trails of Bronze Drums Across Early Southeast Asia

Book Review: Trails of Bronze Drums Across Early Southeast Asia

Dong Son Imprints in the South of Vietnam (research summary)

In the paper, the author reviews the most recent important archaeological discoveries with Dong Son bronze drums (Heger I) found from Highlands (Kontum, Gia Lai, DakLak, Lam Dong provinces), Southern Part of Central Vietnam (Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa provinces) and Southern Vietnam (Binh Dương, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ben Tre, Kien Giang provinces). The author points out “key sites” in the South Vietnam – the typical sites and artifacts most lively showing “the convergance of Indigenous - Exogenous culture” in ancient villages, workshops for metallurgy, cemeteries, treasures, etc., which are related to the Dong Son and other inhabitants of the protohistorical epoch in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and beyond. There are Cemeteries or Tresors which contained Bronze Dong Son drums (Heger I type), bronze halberds (Ko), Western Han mirrors, Indian Nephrite or Glass and Golden Ornaments – artifacts not only representing the multi-linear relationship of the owners of Southern Vietnam with other Asian centres, but also were considered to be the symbol of power, authority, potential of military and polical function, social ranks and they reflected the unpeaceful situation of the contemporary society. The author emphasizes the very appearance of these Dongson drums as shown with 2 subtypes of Bronze Drum Collections: Original Dong Son (Heger I) Bronze Drum Collection and Imitative Bronze Drum Collection which was created according to "Dongsonian Style" thousands of years ago. The author emphasizes the very early appearance of the “exogenous” elements of culture-technique-art-religion in Southern Vietnam, which were adapted or completely modified to match the knowledge and psychology, aesthetic needs, and “Indigenous” beliefs – especially clear in traditional funeral concept thousands of years ago, as shown with distinction in “chiefdom cemetery”. Finallly, the author generalized data related to Bronze metallurgy at the Southern Vietnam area and came to some following remarks: 1/ Nam Bo - Vietnam was the early centre of Bronze Metallurgy at the Mainland Asia in the Proto-history, with the technology of casting in sandstone moulds. 2/ This Bronze casting industry together with its copper and alloy materials probably came from “Native land of Dong Son culture” – the “Bronze Triangle” or “Bronze Quadrilateral”: Dong Son – Yunnan – Guangxi – Guangdong – Khorat. Through various ways: directly via the East Sea to the South of Vietnam or indirectly through roads – via Sa Huynh cultural area and Tay Nguyen (Highlands) along the Mekong River to the South of Vietnam in the end. 3/ However, the southern metallurgy had their “own features” that were considered “non-Dong Son” by the author. The big and sophisticated bronze products such as Dong Son drums (Heger I type) or Chinese halberd (Ko or halberd), Art figurines such as statues of a pangolin (Manis javanica) or Amulets, statues depicting a dog chasing another animal, etc. only appeared in the Early Iron Age. Apart from some exotic intact goods such as Dong Son drums from Son Tinh, Daglao, Ben Tre, Bu Dang etc. and Western Han mirrors from Binh Yen, Go Dua, Phu Chanh, Kem Nac, most of the bronze products in the Early Iron Age in the South of Vietnam were cast on site, with their own characteristics that were “non-Dong Son” and “non-Chinese”. 4/ According to the author, the large bronze object like Dong Son – styled drums or “Ko” appeared a lot here to the regalia expressing power of the Bigmen (the leaders) in the early historical period in the South of Vietnam and they were just replaced in the early Christian Era under the influence of Indian civilization – process by which French scholars call “Hinduism” and “Buddhism”.

Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800 by John N. Miksic (review)

Reviewed by: Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800 by John N. Miksic Loh Wei Leng Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300–1800 John N. Miksic Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. pp. i-xxii, 1–491. ISBN 978-9971-69-574-3 This monograph brings to the fore Singapore’s pre-colonial past, a narrative which serves as a corrective to the common perception that Singapore’s history began in 1819 with Raffles as its founder, substantiated by evidence gathered over three decades of archaeological research.1 In addition, the extension of Singapore’s historical record has been facilitated by the integration of Singapore’s past with studies from the broader scholarship of Asian and world history. The Introduction presents an overview of the main themes which the book addresses in three parts, each comprising four chapters. It begins with a historical background, followed by a second section on the archaeological data, and a third which locates Singapore in its regional context. More specifically, ‘This Introduction will show how an ancient maritime trade network evolved in Southeast Asia and gradually spread westward to India and eastward to China …’ with subsequent discussions illustrating how the sea route ‘was much more important – from both commercial and cultural points of view – than the overland road’ (p. 1). The latter proposition refers to the book’s title, the `Silk Road of the Sea’ which Miksic contends ‘has been almost completely ignored’ (p. 2). This may perhaps be an overstatement given that scholarly writing has not only drawn attention to the maritime silk road but also to the existence of not just one but numerous overland silk roads (Christian 2000). Indeed, Southeast Asian prehistoric material together with a large corpus of historical writing on oceanic east–west passages date them back to the first millennium and even before, as Miksic himself attests to the sea route being ‘over 2,000 years old’ (p. 1). ‘Forgotten Hints’ from Singapore’s archaeology point to Singapore as a trading port, the Temasik alluded to by Chinese traveller Wang Dayuan c.1330 (pp. 171–81), and mentioned in Sejarah Melayu (the Malay Annals) as a stopover en route to Melaka by its Malay rulers coming from Palembang. The historical setting which supplies the context for the emergence of the fourteenth-century port can be found in the chapters in the first section which provide detailed summaries of major works and many more, from the standard references on prehistoric Southeast Asia (Higham 1989) through Graeco-Roman texts, Periplus Maris [End Page 118] Erythraei (the Sailor’s Guide) and Ptolemy’s Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis (Guide to Geography), later incorporated in Arabic route books from c. ninth century CE (Tibbetts 1979), the vade mecums in Southeast Asian history such as Wang Gungwu’s ‘The Nanhai Trade’ (1958) and Paul Wheatley’s The Golden Khersonese (1961) to the more familiar and popular tale of traveller Marco Polo, 1292–3. The ports on the east-west maritime route in his Travels, including those in Southeast Asia, have since been corroborated by archaeological discoveries (p. 39). Epigraphy sometimes supplies texts, for instance ‘the oldest known Buddhist texts composed in Southeast Asia’ (p. 58) are attributed to stone inscriptions of the late fourth and fifth century CE scripts found at the foot of Kedah peak. Together with written sources on the two-way China–India voyages of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, Faxian in 414 and Yijing in the seventh century, their accounts of passengers on merchant ships via Southeast Asia point to trade and shipping in the pre-Srivijayan era. Indeed, ‘vibrant Buddhist interactions’ between India and China were facilitated by a significant increase in commerce along the maritime networks of exchange in the fourth and fifth centuries (Sen 2014). What then of maritime trade in ancient Southeast Asia? The archaeological record is of enormous importance when material remains may provide the only available data to verify narratives of past processes. Hence, Dongson drums (map, p. 26) from present-day north Vietnam, found throughout Southeast Asia, support the suggestion of prehistoric maritime trade emerging within Southeast Asia while archaeological artefacts from the first major Southeast Asian kingdom, Funan in the...

Bronze Drum in Selangor (Malaysia): The Motif and Significance from Archaeological Perspective

This study focuses on the bronze drums found in Selangor, Malaysia. Besides being found in this country, bronze drums are also found in several other locations in Southeast Asia, among them Vietnam, China, Laos, Burma, Cambodia and Indonesia. The discovery of bronze drums in Selangor raised questions about when and how it spread the meaning or philosophy behind the decorative motifs, the function and the extent of its relationship with the local people. This study therefore, employed literature review, typology and lab analysis through the XRF technique on selected samples. Result of the study showed that the motifs displayed on the bronze drums found in Selangor are the stereotype of the bronze drum from the Heger I type, which is a type of bronze drum found in Dongson, Vietnam. This is based on the drawings of the motifs and decorative patterns displayed on the bronze drums' tympanum, among them the star motif, triangle motif, stair motif, tangential circle motif, alphabet motif, bird motif, frog motif and so on. The motifs displayed are manifestations associated with the activities of life of the people from the Late Prehistoric period in Southeast Asia. The widespread distribution of bronze drum findings is a result of the various functions of the bronze drum either as a ritual object, status symbol, trade object, burial object and so on. This object is believed to have spread in Selangor through maritime trade activities based on its discovery close to tin-rich areas.

Drumming the Future: Vietnamese Drumming as a Bridge Between Tradition and Popular Entertainment

The fascination of Vietnamese with drums and drumming reaches back into the pre-historic when bronze drums (Dong Son), from the Red River Delta region of Vietnam’s north, were prized trading commodities throughout the Asian world of that time. Substantial archaeological evidence from the Dong Son culture (1st millennium BCE – 2nd century CE) indicates that the bronze drums, cast in one piece through the lost-wax technique and often weighing two hundred kilograms or more were venerated possessions used as regalia, burial objects and musical instruments for ceremonies and festivals. Now in the twenty-first century the Dong Son and other historically renowned drum types have become symbols for Vietnam’s emergence into an international cultural and economic arena. Three Vietnamese international events illustrate the emblematic use of traditional drumming as a nationalistic symbol of modern Vietnam: The Third Asian Indoor Games held in Hanoi in 2009 opened with a drumming spectacle using battle drums; The Jubilee celebrations of the Vietnamese Catholic Church in 2010, drew delegates from across the Catholic world with the opening in the north in the Ha Nam province beginning with an immense traditional drumming performance within its religious setting; The 2012 Hue International Arts Festival incorporated ‘Resounding the Vietnamese Spirit’, a specific drums and percussion festival with performances using Binh Dinh war drums, royal drums from Hue, Dong Son drums, and Tay Son battle drums. In particular, Hue’s ‘Resounding the Vietnamese Spirit’ was designed to attract Vietnamese youth to the popular possibilities of traditional drumming. The hallmark of the move to drumming as popular entertainment, extending from the use of drumming in the traditional lion dance performances is the emergence of small, youth drumming groups who perform in the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for shop openings and local cultural events.