| Abstract: |
The Trang Kenh site, a Bronze Age workshop for manufacturing nephrite (jade) ornaments is located near the sea in Hai Phong Province, northern Vietnam (Minh Duc commune, Thuy Nguyen district). It was discovered in 1968 and excavated twice in 1969 and 1986 over an area of 265 square metres by teams from the Institute of Archaeology in Hanoi (Thi 1970
Dung 1990). The site is dated to the late 2nd millennium BC on the basis of five radiocarbon dates. The cultural layer is between 1.8 and 2.1 m thick with abundant stone artefacts, pottery, mollusc shells, animal bones and teeth. Especially remarkable is the debris from the manufacture of nephrite ornaments such as bracelets, small rings and beads, and the tools for making these
such as saws, chisels, jasper drill bits and gouges, and nephrite adzes. It is believed that Trang Kenh was a specialized manufacturing settlement making ornaments for exchange with other communities of the late Phung Nguyen and Dong Dau cultures in the Red River Valley whose burials frequently contained finished jade ornaments of these types.
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