There were over 120 foreign and Vietnamese participants. The VASS was represented by Prof., PhD. Pham Van Duc, the Vice President of VASS; Associate Prof., PhD. Tran Minh Tuan, the Head of the Personnel Department; Assoc. Prof., PhD. Trần Thị An, the Head of Scientific Management Department; Assoc. Prof., PhD. Vu Hung Cuong, the Head of the Planning – Finance Department; the leaders of the Institute of Archaeology of VASS including Assoc. Prof., PhD. Nguyen Giang Hai, the Director, Assoc. Prof., PhD. Bui Van Liem and PhD. Nguyen Gia Doi, the Vice Directors and other scholars and experts from the Institute.
The international representatives included Prof., Academician Anatoly Derevianko, the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology of the Russia Academy of Sciences; the archaeological experts from Russia, the US, Italy, Korea, China, Japan, Philippines, Myanmar and Thailand.
The representatives of Gia Lai province consisted of Mr. Duong Van Trang, a Member of the Party Central Committee, the Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, the Chairman of People's Council of Gia Lai Province; Mr. Vo Ngoc Thanh, the Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee of Gia Lai; Ms. Huynh Nu Thu Ha, Deputy President of People's Council of Gia Lai Province; the leader representatives of the departments in Gia Lai province; the representatives of the Party Committee, the People's Committee of An Khe town, where there was the Paleolithic discovery.
In addition, there were other scholars and experts from other research institutes, universities, the provincial museums of Thanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Đăk Lăk and the units of media communication.
The opening session was presided by Prof. PhD. Pham Van Duc, the Vice President of VASS; Ms.Huynh Nu Thu Ha, the Vice President of the People's Committee of Gia Lai province; Associate Prof. PhD. Nguyen Giang Hai, the Director of the Institute of Archaeology of VASS; Prof., Academician Anatoly Derevianko, the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology of the Russia Academy of Sciences.
In his speech, Prof., PhD. Pham Van Duc highly appreciated the Russia Academy of Sciences, the People’s committee of Gia Lai province and other units that were directly involved in the archaeological works such as the Việt Nam Institute of Archaeology, the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology of the Russia Academy of Sciences, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province. The results of the discovery, excavation and research of the Paleolithic sites in An Khe are extremely significant; the collected data initially provide important values for the study and the compilation of the national history, which are suggestive and aimed at building the An Khe area to become the center for human culture and history on national and international levels, practically contributing to the program of social and economic development in An Khe and Gia Lai in particular and Tay Nguyen area in general. At the same time, the discoveries and the initial research results from the Paleolithic sites in An Khe demonstrate the right orientation and guidelines of VASS in scientific research and cooperative expansion in Vietnam and abroad, which effectively serve the national comprehensive development. The professor hopes that in the near future the Vietnamese and Russian archaeologists will continue to cooperate and research to confirm the cultural archaeological values of the An Khe site, and propose the Party Committee the People's Committee of An Khe town to continue creating favorable conditions for the scholars to fulfill their tasks.
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In the welcome speech, Ms. Huynh Nu Thu Ha, Deputy President of People's Council of Gia Lai Province emphasizes that Tay Nguyen in general and Gia Lai in particular maintain many historically and culturally valuable archaeological sites. For over the past decades, Gia Lai has been knows as a location with many archaeological sites such as Bien Ho, Tra Dom (Pleiku) and especially the new information from Roc Tung, Go Da (An Khe). The Deputy President highly appreciates the archaeological contributions of the Việt Nam Institute of Archaeology and the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology of the Russia Academy of Sciences with their valuable archaeological studies not only to Gia Lai, Vietnam but also to the region and the world; at the same time, she expresses her desire to continue receiving the assistance and cooperation from the scholars in investigation, excavation, research and maintenance of many other archaeological local sites that have not been excavated in the near future so that these cultural sites will be wakened up and maintained.
In the introductory speech, Assoc. Prof., PhD. Nguyen Giang Hai, the Director of the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology state that in 2014, a research project with the objective of realistic investigation and assessment of the system of the archaeological sites in the upper part of the Ba River, serving the plan of mapping the archaeological sites in Tay Nguyen area, which has been carried out with Gia Lai province as the central point. The unexpected results were nearly 30 archaeological sites discovered and immediately paid attention by the Russian archaeologists when they were implementing the final year of the 5-year cooperative program between the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology and the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology at the Con Moong cave site, Thanh Hoa province. The results of the quick investigation led to the signing of the second- stage cooperation (2015-2019) between the two institutes in the research on the site of An Khe, Gia Lai. The results of the excavation and research from 2015 to 2016 at the Go Da, Roc Tung (An Khe, Gia Lai) have extremely important significance, with many findings of roughly-chopped tools, especially the typical handaxes and Tektite fragments in a stable cultural layer, with the dates that have temporarily been defined as 77,000 – 80,000 BP. The initial results of the excavation and research demonstrate that i) although they are preliminary conclusions that need more verification through analyses from other scientific methods, they have noted the appearance of an early Paleolithic in Vietnam, the existence of the primitive humans, the homo erectus, the direct ancestors of the homo sapient sapient within Vietnam; ii) These results, if they were certainly confirmed, would change the perception of some scholars who don’t agree that there is an early Paleolithic period in the Southeast Asian area where they consider as an area of conservatism and stagnation; iii) These results demonstrate great archaeological potentials in Tay Nguyen.
After the opening session, the participants listened to the 11 presentations of the Vietnamese and foreign representatives, which focus on exchanging the results of the excavations and research into Paleolith of Russia, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, China, Japan, Australia and Việt Nam, with many other opinions and discussions from the participants.
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In the conclusion speech, Prof., Academician Anatoly Derevianko, the chairman of the Vietnamese – Russian cooperative research program at An Khe confirms that the site group found at An Khe, Gia Lai province is certainly dated to early Paleolithic. The early Paleolithic sites at An Khe are dated to the very early time as compared to the Eurozone. They share the same date with the Baise site in China. It is necessary to be aware of the natural factors, the living environment, and the geological issues in the Southeast Asian area in general and in Tay Nguyen of Vietnam in particular. In the current situation, based on the factual studies, Prof. Derevianko supposes that the Tektite fragments found in the cultural layer together with stone tools are the most important data to date the sites in the area. In general, the Paleolithic sites at An Khe are dated to c.70,000 - 90,000 BP.
On this occasion, on behalf of the Leaders of Gia Lai province, Mr. Duong Van Trang, the Secretary of the provincial Party Committee presented a gong set, the traditional musical instruments commonly used in the life, work and cultural beliefs of the Tay Nguyen ethnic minority to Prof., Academician Anatoly Derevianko, the representative of the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology in order to acknowledge the important contribution of the archaeologists from the Novosbirsk Institute of Archaeology – Ethnology to the discovery of the Paleolithic site at An Khe.
Apart from the discussions in the hall, on November 1st, 2016, the participants paid a visit to the site at An Khe, Gia Lai.
Assoc.Prof. Vu Hung Cuong
