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YÊN BÁI — Experts from a museum in the northern province of Yên Bái have discovered a prehistoric cultural relic site in Ngòi Sen Village, Văn Tiến Commune.

The ancient site was accidentally found during a thematic survey for the collection of agricultural artefacts for display at the Yên Bái Provincial Museum.

It is recognised as belonging to the Late Stone Age and Hòa Bình pre-culture period, according to a report on baoyenbai.com.vn.

Covering about 600sq.m, the site was unearthed while Nguyễn Văn Mão, a local resident, and his family members were digging to build a farm on the bank of the Hồng (Red) River, which has hills and ground belonging to the ancient alluvial shelf of the river, the report said.

Items found on the site are diverse and mostly made of pebbles. They include turtle shell-shaped tools, single-edged and double-edged tools, and horizontal edge cutters that date back about 9,000 to 10,000 years.

In addition, on the surface of the excavated areas, experts found some construction materials including brick mauls known as originating from the Lê-Nguyễn dynasties from the 17th century to the early 19th century.

Lý Kim Khoa, deputy director of the Yên Bái Museum, said the discovery of the new prehistoric relic site is significant in the province's archaeology research.

This is the first time that the museum has discovered this type of prehistoric archaeological site, which has richer tools with more sophisticated processing techniques than other sites of the same period in the area, according to the official.

The provincial museum plans to zone off the area for further digging and exploration, thus restoring and promoting the values of the site.

It also expects to build this place into a point of yearly and regular cultural research on the transition between the Late Stone Age and the Hòa Bình pre-culture period, ensuring conservation and promotion of tourism and academic values of Việt Nam's archaeological science.

Earlier, archaeologists also discovered findings with cultural values of the prehistoric period in Việt Nam through an urgent archaeological excavation of Tuần Quán relic site in Yên Bái City's Yên Ninh Ward.

An archaeological report in early July 2021 also confirmed that Tuần Quán is an extremely precious relic site in the system of prehistoric archaeological sites in Việt Nam, which plays a very important role in the exploration of the origin of Sơn Vi-Hòa Bình Culture in Việt Nam and Southeast Asia. — VNS