| Abstract: |
This is the true story of the boat burial No. 2 at Viet Khe, one of the richest prehistoric burials in Southeast Asia: In 1961, the first wooden tree trunk burials of Vietnam were found by chance in the small village Viet Khe near Hai Phong. An excavation report was quickly published in 1965 in Vietnamese language. One of the five discovered burials (No. 2) contained more than 100 offerings, mostly bronze objects, and belong to the richest equipped prehistorical graves in Southeast Asia. The remaining burials should have contained not a single offering. Therefore, this site was also seen as very impressive example for strong social differences during the early Dong Son culture in Northern Vietnam. A sample of the wooden coffin was radiocarbon dated in the 1970ies, and the result was one of the strongest arguments for the early beginning of the Dong Son culture around 500 BC or even earlier. The author visited Viet Khe in 2013 and talked with eyewitnesses of the excavation in 1961. They told another, much more likely story from the discovery of these 5 burials, which were heavely looted before burial No. 2 was saved. Besides, some arguments are given for a younger date of this rich burial from Viet Khe around the 2nd century BC.
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