Everything about Co Loa Citadel totally explained
Cổ Loa Citadel is a
citadel built near
Phong Khe, about 20km to the west of today’s
Hanoi, during the end of the
Hồng Bàng Dynasty (about 257 BCE). The fortress is a spiral-shaped complex of the then new capital. Its name is derived from the
Sino-Vietnamese, meaning "old spiral." The site has been the source of various relics of the
Dong Son culture of the
Bronze Age.
The site consists of two outer sets of ramparts and a citadel on the inside, of rectangular shape.
The outer rampart comprises a perimeter of 8 km and is lined with guard towers. The ramparts still stand up to 12 m high and are 25 m in width at their base. Arachaeologists have estimated that over two million cubic metres of material were moved in order to construct the entire fortress, including moats that were fed by the
Hoang River.
Excavations made by archaeologists have revealed Dong Son style pottery that had stratified over time under the walls, while a drum was found by chance by Nguyen Giang Hai and Nguyen Van Hung. The drum included a hoard of bronze objects. The rarity of such objects in Southeast Asia and the range found at Co Loa is believed to possibly be unique.
The drum itself is one of the largest Bronze Age drums to have been recovered from the Red River Delta, standing 57 cm high and boasting a tympanum with a diameter of 73.6 cm. The drum itself weighs 72 kg and contains around 200 pieces of bronze, including 20 kg of scrap pieces from a range of artefacts. These include socketed hoes and ploughshares, socketed axes, and spearheads.
The artefacts are numerically dominated by the ploguhshares, of which there are 96. Six hoes and a chisel were in the set. There wer 32 socketed axes of various shapes, including a boat shaped axehead. This was almost a replica to a clay mound found in the grave of the bronze metalworker at
Lang Ca.
Sixteen spearheads, a dagger and eight arrowheads were also found. One spearhead generated special interest because it was bimetallic, with an iron blade fitting into a bronze socket.
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