Conservationists from central Quang Ngai province have completed restoration of four ceramic jar tombs belonging to the Sa Huynh Culture, which dated back more than two millennia.

The Sa Huynh Culture flourished in central and southern Vietnam 2,500 years ago, Doan Anh Tuan, director of UNESCO Vietnam’s Ancient Relics Preservation Centre, said.

The tombs bulge in the middle before tapering at the neck. The tallest is 1.3 m and 70cm across. The other three are 85cm tall. “The jars were used to preserve human ashes,” Tuan explained.

“A unique characteristic of the Sa Huynh was their funeral rites: corpses were cremated and the ashes placed in jars for burial,” UNESCO Vietnam experts said.

Quang Ngai native Lam Du Xenh found over 2,000 ceramic pieces from these tombs in 1999 at a site in Binh Son District where workers were clearing land for the construction of the Dung Quat Shipyard.

Xenh, who spent many years researching the Sa Huynh Culture, kept the ceramic pieces at his home.
“Two months ago, I started working with a group of conservationists from UNESCO Vietnam headed by To Anh Dung to restore the tombs to their original condition,” he said.

All the relics are now kept at the Sa Huynh Culture Museum in Hoi An.