Spread across the northern province of Ninh Binh, the stunning Trang An
scenic landscape complex is often called Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay On Land.
Paddle the Trang An trail with Ninh Binh Online newspapaper.
The turbulent movement of earth crust of hundreds of million years ago
has endowed Ninh Binh with a unique nature of labyrinth of cave,
mountain, lake, and historical relics.
Covering an
area of nearly 2,000 hectares, the Trang An scenic landscape complex is
divided into five areas: special reservation area (ancient capital of
Hoa Lu), core area, cave area, tourism service areas, and spiritual
tourism area of Bai Binh pagoda mountain.
The site
boasts 47 historical relics with numerous caves inside stunning
limestone karst mountain ranges. The lyric and picturesque landscape of
Trang An is a harmonic combination of mountain, valley, and system of
lakes.
Trang An features various caves that has
undergone impacts of time and weather, decorating with unique shape of
stalactites and stalagmites. The system of interconnected cave comprises
30 valleys, each is a amazing picture of mountains, rivers and nature
in general.
Floating in a small boat in green and
fresh lake, visitors will be amazed by the shade of mountain range
reflected in the fresh lake surface, various kind of wild flowers bloom
and dark rock cliff, some goats searching for feed flicker under branch
of trees…
The 50 submerged caves act as a gateway
leading to other valleys in total span of 20km long. Typical of the
caves are Toi (dark) cave which is 315m long and 60m high, Ba giot
(Three drops), Seo, Lo, Dot, Dai Linh, Ao trai, and Nau ruou (wine
making). They have different features that make Trang An an attractive
system of caves. The sparkling of stalactites and stalagmites with
unique shapes inside each cave dazzles visitors.
Recent archaeological excavations in the area revealed that lurking
behind the magnificent beauty of the area’s dramatic mountains and clear
blue waters is a long-hidden story that provides exciting clues about
the culture of the ancient Vietnamese.
A plethora of
archaeological objects, including many limestone artefacts left behind
by prehistoric man, have been found at several cave sites in the area.
According to Associate Professor Nguyen Khac Su from
the Institute of Archaeology, head of the excavation team at Trang An,
these objects offer clear evidence of a long-lasting settlement in the
caves of the limestone valleys at an absolutely identifiable date.
“We have been able to discover that the tradition of human cave
residency dates back 23,000 years,” he says. “The relics and artifacts
excavated in Trang An’s cave system show that remarkable prehistoric
values developed here and passed from generation to generation, becoming
a tradition.”
In the caves where Su led his
excavation, his team discovered an abundance of shell deposits from both
fresh water and marine molluscs, some of which were used to make
ancient tools and jewellery.
“Similar finds have
been made in other northern provinces. Their ages range from 7,000 to
8,000 years old. Jewellery shells were used for both decoration and as
currency,” Su explains.
The team also uncovered
various work tools made from limestone – some relatively fragile but
others harder than glass. The haul was complete with the discovery of
pottery from the New Stone era.
Samples of natural
materials such as pollen, stalactites and soil were taken from the
cultural items in order to date the finds as well as shed some light on
the geological changes to the region.
Dr Nishimura
Masanari, a Japanese archaeologist, has discovered similarities between
the Trang An caves and others in the Asian region.
“In Vietnam up to now, few limestone tools have been found, except here
at Trang An, while in Malaysia a few similar tools have been discovered.
I guess they are from the Hoa Binh culture (12,000-10,000 BC). They
indicate that several archaeological caves in Southeast Asia share
certain similar features,” he says.
More evidence
found in the Trang An caves, such as wooden boat- shaped coffins,
Han-era tombs and diamond-shaped decorative tiles, suggests that the
ancient Vietnamese continued to occupy the area well into the proto and
early-historic periods towards the end of the last period of glaciation,
when the area’s most dramatic geological transformation took place as
the area changed into its present shape.
“This is
truly a unique discovery, a typical example showing the tradition
Vietnamese people have had historically of settling in caves,” Su
stresses.
Su’s team also discovered many bones from
buffaloes, cows, stags, and deer. Most surprisingly, bones of rhinos
were discovered, which left scientists scratching their heads – the
swampy and sunken environment of Trang An does not match their natural
habitat. Shells from oysters stuck in the sunken limestone demonstrate
rising sea levels and mark the period that humans started coming into
contact with the ocean.
The gradual change from
freshwater to marine molluscs used as food, culture and ancient tools
shows that the increasingly water-dominated environment caused the
ancient human inhabitants of the caves to change their lifestyle, diet
and technology.
“It can be said that dwellers at Trang An were good at adapting themselves to environmental changes,” Su says.
According to the professor, the results of the excavations are
contributing significantly to a much wider regional and global
reassessment of early human behavioural and cultural diversity while
providing some elusive answers to questions about human adaptation in
tropical environments.
Not only serving as a cradle
of civilisation of ancient Vietnamese, Trang An also used to house the
first capital of the Vietnamese feudal and independent state, Hoa Lu,
more than 1,000 years ago. Its rugged landscape provided a favourable
location for a secure and easily defended citadel.
Even though over 10 centuries have passed and Hoa Lu is no longer the
capital, relics have been left behind, including the temples dedicated
to Dinh Tien Hoang (968-979), Le Dai Hanh (980-1005) and several
one-pillar pagodas from different dynasties. All have helped to build
the legend that exists around this ancient culture.
Experts predict that these recent archaeological discoveries mean that
Trang An will soon be recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage.
Moreover, Trang An owns diverse ecological system. It is surrounded by
primary forests with variety of floral and fauna systems including 310
types of tracheophyta, many kinds of fungi, moss and algae, some rare
trees like Dalbergia tonkinensis, Chukrasia tabularis, Burretiodendron
hsienmu…, over 30 animals, 50 types of birds, reptiles, especially rare
animals like Capricornis sumatraensis, Neofelis nebulosa, white chest
gibbon, Buceros bicornis…
Just by discovering the
cave system of Trang An scenic landscape complex, visitors will get a
deep understanding why it is called “Ha Long Bay on land”.-VNA