Archaeological survey in Gia Lai province, Vietnam, in 2020

In 2020, the Joint Russian-Vietnam Expedition conducted archaeological survey in two districts of Gia Lai Province - Phu Thien and An Khe. Material evidence from five locations in the first district demonstrates clear resemblance with the complex of the An Khe industry dated to the Early Paleolithic (ca. 800,000 BP). The team also analyzed the collection of lithic artifacts gathered by the geologists from the National Museum of Nature (Hanoi) in 2019 in Phu Thien District of Gia Lai Province, and reliably identified fourteen locations with the Early Paleolithic evidence among great number of locations with ancient artifacts discovered by the geologists. These artifacts included simple cores with parallel reduction as well as choppers and peak-like tools typical of the An Khe industry. Archaeological survey in An Khe district was focused on distribution of sites with the An Khe industry for establishing its boundaries. The territories to the north, east, and south of the area with the highest concentration of the sites with the An Khe industry were surveyed. In addition to the analysis of the collection gathered by Vietnamese geologists, a number of surveys in Phu Thien and An Khe districts in Gia Lai Province have demonstrated that archaeological finds were concentrated at the outcrops of raw materials in the form of quartzite veins in granite masses. The same situation was observed in An Khe district. The Rok Tung group of sites was located precisely at the highest concentration of quartzite raw materials on the bank of the Ba River. Typologically, the artifacts from Phu Thien (pebble cores with parallel and radial reduction, choppers, chopping tools, side-scrapers, and pike-like tools) manifest their essential similarity with the Early Paleolithic An Khe industry.