At Dong Son in the Red River valley of north Vietnam some of the most sophisticated products of the Asian Bronze Age are found, elaborate drums, famous for their technical and aesthetic qualities. The drums were made using lost-wax casting (using a wax model to create a mould for casting complex shapes) and other sophisticated techniques.
The drums were decorated with intricate friezes with geometric, human and animal designs. Distributed throughout Vietnam, Malaya, Java and Sumatra, it is very likely that they continued to be traded long after they were made.
At the site of Dong Son, burials were arranged around wooden houses built on piles and some of them contained drums as high-status grave goods, indicating considerable social stratification in these permanent agricultural communities.
The centre of drum production was the early Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac, which had its capital at Co Loa. One large drum discovered at Co Loa contained 100 bronze ploughshares.
