DrNguyenViet.com > Articles >

ArchaeoEthnobotany records of Canarium in Vietnam and in SEA [8/7/2008]

Archaeological and ethnobotanical records of Canarium in Vietnam and Southeast Asia

Nguyen Viet

Abstract

Canarium is an important used plant in Vietnam since more than 10 thousant years ago. The earliest evidence of this plant as human food may be in Sry Lanca (12.500 BP). Plant remains excavated from the Hoabinhian cave Con Moong (Vietnam) evidenced the plant food changing from castanopsis to canarium at 11.000 BP - 10.500 BP. The canarium, because that, could be reconized as an indicator for the being of holocene climate. In beginning, there were some kinds of canarium, which differ in form of fruit stone. The canarium are discovered as food also in first prehistoric rice growing villages and until today in Vietnam.   Today, the vietnamese biologists name 5 different species, three of which are horst cultivaed. Vietnamese Ethnobotany informed many uses from this plant : fruit and it’s stone gem as food; resin as glue, contact material and for licht too; wood for construction. Canarium as food are prepaired in Vietnam through many ways : boiled, fermenting, salted drying… The appetit aroma of Canarium fruit likes as olive fruit in Mediterrranean regions. Canarium in Vietnam today has two major sorts : fruit meat in dack brown and in green.

Introduction

Chester Gorman ‘s excavation at Spirit Cave (Thailand) in the 1960s greatly influenced the author of this paper. The first test excavation to follow Gorman’s dry sieving method in Vietnam was carried out at the Hoabinhian cave of Xom Trai (Lac Son, Hoa Binh ) in August 1982 (Nguyen Viet et al, 1982) and then, many hoabinhian excavations were carried out with seaving and got a lot of plant remains as Hoabinhian food. In concerning with Canarium and with changing of plant food evidencing for climate change from cooling end pleistocene to warmer holocene, the excavation at the cave of Con Moong 1987 is most important. The stratigraphy of this cave shows clearly the changing of two phases of food plants corresponding to 14C.dating range from 12.500 to 8.500 BP – the key period of changing from pleistocene to holocene.

This paper focuses to study the starting of Canarium as main plant food in prehisrory Vietnams. The plant remains collected in other hoabinhian sites in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia confirmed the situation of Con Moong, that the earliest Canarium remains might be occurred only after 11.000 BP. That means, the Canarium in Southeast Asian is a holocene crop. They came from equatoral areas northwards to the highest altitute, where is today Kwangsi China. Some informations show that the Canarium was used earlier, since 14.000 BP in Melanesien Ocean Pacific. This plant was collected as main food of almost hoabinhian dwellers in holocene. Man use its fruits pasta, pulp and kernel of hardy stone seed. In hoabinhian archaeological context, the Canarium remains were collected almost in charred fragments of seed. It’s rarely to see the full seeds.  The identification based on the typical sharp triangle ends of seed and special construction of seed wall : hard brilant section. The charred and fragmental situation of Canarium seeds in hoabinhian context evidenced the they were prepaired by roasting then beating to take the edible kernel. There are three kinds of Canarium seeds could be botanicaly identified from Con Moong materials. They belong to C. Album, C. Indicum and C.Tramchim, which occure today in Vietnam. The first two are cultivated and the last one is wild and poor appetite. In Vietnam today, the Canarium fruits are exploited as food. Its stem are for construction and haushold timber. The stem resin are for sticking and lighting material. The Canarium remains were excavated as food also in vietnamese late neolithic and early bronze age rice growing sites. They existed in charred full seeds and were identified as C. Ovatum and C. Indicum. The wild Canarium (C. Tramchim) was absent since early rice growing societes. Only full seeds of Canarium were found in this time, it might evidence for the change of food practicing way in Canarium fruit using contemporary : only pulp of fruit was used. This happiness could be confirmed by discoveries in the late Dongsonian phase (1^st century BC – 2^nd century AD), where the Canarium were found always in complet fruits or seeds. In some comtemporary cases in South China, Canarium complet fruits/seeds were found in ceramic bowls or vases as funeral food. Canarium under chinese Han age was one of the best famous delicated fruits from Giao Chi (north Vietnam and Kwangsi, Kwangtung today).

In Southern Vietnam, the first Canarium was found in the site Bung Bac. It’s a full good conservated fruit of C. Bengalese. This kind of Canarium grows naturally and cultivated in Southern Vietnam, but not yet seen in North Vietnam. The fresh fruits are soaked in salted or suggared water several days before eating the pulp. This kind has a soft seed with very thin kernel. Because that man seemly don’t exploit its seed for food.

1-    Hoabinhian archaeological records of Canarium

Methods of collection and identification

a- The main method for collecting the dry and charred plant remains at mentioned sites was dry sieving. All sediments excavated from Con Moong and Xom Trai during the 1982 and 1986-87 seasons were sieved with four sizes of sieve mesh: 0.1 x 0.1 cm, 0.2 x 0.2 cm, 0.5 x 0.5 cm and 1x 1 cm. The plant materials taken from the 0.2 x 0.2 cm sieve were examined under microscope. 

b- The botanic identifiable items were confirmed by Nguyen Nghia Thin (National University Hanoi), D. Yen (Australian National University Canberra) and researchers at the East Berlin Tierpark. The charred fruitstone fragments of Canarium, Aleurites, the nut shells of Quecus, Castanopsis, the fruit cover of Juglans-like were identified by examining their section cross under microscope.

c- The charred fragments of Canarium and Quecus/Castanopsis (in Con Moong) and charred fruit cover fragments of Juglans-like were used as materials for direct C14 dating.

d- Ethnobotanic surveys to research on distributions and changes of natural flora in different altitudes

e- Radiocarbon chronology and faunal remains was used to confirm the changes of the Hoabinhian main food resources in Vietnam.

Some archaeological records in South and Southeast Asian Context

Beli-Lena (Sri Lanka) : Canarium sp. of C. Zeylanicum (local name Kekuna) in Sri Lanka in time span from 10.200 – 12.240 BP in mesolithic cave of Beli-Lena (Kitukala, ca 40 km east of Colombo), see M.D. Kajale, 1989, Mesolothic exploitation of wild plants in Sri Lanka : archaeobotanical study at the cave site of Beli-Lena,

More in SEA archaeological context :

Malaysia : Pyrak (Dunn, Zuraina)

 Vietnam rice growing villages : Xom Ren, Dong Dau, Thanh Den (3800 – 3200 BP) and very popular in late second half of 1^st millien in southern China.

Canarium as food remains in Hoabinhian archaeological context in Vietnam

	Name of Plant	excavated year	Locations	C14 dating (BP) and time estimation	preservation situation	quantity (fragments)	(%)
	Tram - Canarium	1988	HangDoi[2]	11,000 - 10,000	charred/dry	6 complete specimens	100
	Tram - Canarium	1988	MaiDaDieu[3] (180-140 cm)	9,000 - 7,000	charred/dry	52	94
	Tram - Canarium	1987	DongCang (layer 2)[4]	11,000 - 10,000	charred/dry	4 complete specimens	3
	Tram - Canarium	1987	ConMoong (A4b-A1)	10,500 - 8,000	charred/dry	634	98
	Tram - Canarium	1982, 1986, 2004	Xom Trai	Early Holocene occupation	charred/dry	5 complete specimens	2
	Tram – Canarium	1986	Hang Muoi	11,000 – 10,000td>	charred	3	100
	Tram – Canarium	2004	Du Sang	Early Holocene occupation	Charred/dry	2

Canarium sp.  in Southeast Asia and Pacificc

Source : Roger Blench, 2004, Fruits and arboriculture in the Indo-Pacific Region, BIPPA, Vol. 24, Table 1.

The datings for archaeological Canarium remains in Vietnam and in SEA.

In Vietnam, Canarium remains were discovered earliest in Dong Cang, Hang Muoi and Hang Doi sediments at about 11,000 BP, similar in age to evidence recovered from Spirit Cave, northwest Thailand. At Con Moong, the earliest charred fragment of Canarium was found in the layer B1a but Canarium became dominant only in layer A4b, dated to about 9,500 BP. At Mai Da Dieu Canarium remains were found in middle and upper layers dating to about 8,000 BP. Canarium continues to grow today in the same locations as these caves in North Vietnam and can be representative for Holocene food plant of Hoabinhian. In Xom Trai and Du Sang the Canarium remains were found in the Holocene Hoabinhian occupation. We haven’t found any canarium remains in plant collections in the lower occupations with 14C dates earlier than 11.000 BP in Con Moong, Xom Trai, Lang Vanh, Du Sang… The similar situation have been seen in prehistorical context of Thailand and Malaysia.

The case of Con Moong

Plant remains from Con Moong

This collection comes from the test dry seaving excavation in 1987. It contains 18 dried items and 855 charred identifiable items (about 300 items per cubic meter of excavated cultural sediment). The charred plant items are separated clearly in two compacts corresponding to cultural layers. In the upper layers

The botanic identification of Canarium charred fragments based on the typical sharp triangle ends of seed and special construction of seed wall : hard brilant section. The charred and fragmental situation of Canarium seeds in hoabinhian context evidenced the they were prepaired by roasting then beating to take the edible kernel. There are three kinds of Canarium seeds could be botanicaly identified from Con Moong materials. They belong to C. Ovatum, C. Indicum and C.Tramchim, which occure today in Vietnam. The first two are cultivated and the last one is wild and poor appetite.

Con Moong seasonal occupations for harvesting Canarium

The masterials, which could be identified seasonality for Con Moong occupations, contain 1- shell remains of land snail Cyclophorus. This snail lived mainly in lime stone rock mountains distributing more than 60% surface cachtment of Con Moong cave dwellers. They delivered the main animal food (40%) for Con Moong occupators and rolled as good indicator for moist warm climate from april to october yearly in north Vietnam. 2- shell of rock crabs Ranguna Kimboinesis Dang. The rock crabs delivered ca 15% of animal meats for Con Moong dweller’s food. They lived in nearby rock streaming in tropical and subtropical forest. Man could collect them now in Vietnam only during or shortly after raining in summer time. 3- Canarium harvesting season. In north Vietnam, almost kinds of Canarium fruits maturate during July – September. The collecting seeds could be until October, when the mature fruits fail down in earth and their pulp is becoming food for birds and other animals. The Canarium delivered owned 98% of food plant remains in Con Moong.

With the food remains dominated by rock snail Cyclophorus, rock crabs Ranguna Kimboinensis and seed of Canarium fruits the occupation of Hoabinian peoples in Con Moong cave was seasonaly as a summer camp from April to October in several yearly.

Focusing in a broad spectrum collecting plant food

Basing on multiform of food plant and animal list excavated in lime stone mountain hoabinhian sites of northwest Thailand, Chester Gorman propossed

Perhaps changing in flora from Pleistocene to Holocene          

There are two major kinds from charred plant remains excavated in Con Moong sediments : Canarium (98%) in upper layers (14C dates from ca 9.500 – 8.500 years BP) and Castanopsis (ca 80%) in lower layers (14C dates from ca 12.500 – 9.500 years BP). The domination of each plant food in each period evidenced perhaps a domination in flora, of which Canarium or Castanopsis wererepresentatives. Occuring Canarium since only layer of 14C-date ca 9.500 years BP demonstrated the beginning of holocene climate in north Vietnam. In some vietnamese cases like ones in Hang Doi, Hang Muoi, Dong Cang… the 14C datings show results earlier, in ca 11.000 BP. Studing on the 14C dating processes I reconized that those 14C dates are messured from cochilien stream snail shell samples (Melania sp.). A comparative research[5]’s years confirmed the correcture rangs for dates messured from shells of stream snails must be between 500 – 700 years younger than messurement result. Because that I believe the dating series of Con Moong, that the Holocene climate, of which’s flora Canarium represented, started since ca 9.500 years BP. Before that time the flora here is dominated by its representative Castanopsis ans Celtis. in 14C dating in Con Moong made by the Berliner 14C-Laboratory in 1980

In the case of Xom Trai ( a hoabinhian cave is ca 30km northwest from Con Moong) I excavated a collection of charred plant food remains with pure domination of Juglans-like (ca 90%) while Castanopsis is only in 3% like Celtis. The 14C datings directly from charred Juglans-like remains concentrated in rang of 18.500 – 16.000 years BP. Any charred fragment of Juglans-like was found in the Con Moong sediments. That means perhaps that the flora in Xom Trai at LGM might be represented by Juglans, which grows today only in the altitute 1000 m up in this region. The temparature at LGM in the region must be ca 5-7 Celsus grads cooler than today.

The materials of Xom Trai, Con Moong food plant remains permis to estable a perhaps flora changing from Juglans advantage during LGM (18.500 – 16.000 BP) to Castanopsis/Celtis domination (ca 13.000 – 9.500 BP) in end-pleistocene, then starting holocene with dominaton of Canarium.

Canarium Ethnobotanic Studies – the case in Vietnam

1-    Wild and cultivated Canarium in Vietnam

The C. Tramchim fruit is bigger and has relativ thick pulp layer. However its fruit pulp is so acrid that nobody today uses it for food. The seed has small kernels. Because that this kind can find today only in deep forest and never cultivated. The name Tramchim means in vietnamese “Canarium for bird’s food”. Only in periods of few food crisis, the modern mountainous people harvested Tramchim fruits also. Those fruits must be soaked in runing water many days before boiling them for food. The seeds are beated then too to collect small kernels. This explained why this kind was found only as food (with small quantity) of the Hoabinhian hunter-gatherer in early holocene and had disappeared since late neolithic.

The remains of both C. Album and C. Indicum were found with clear advantage in Hoabinhian context. The seed of both kinds contains each three big appetite kernels. For vietnamese is the taste of C. Indicum buttery better than C. Album. Man don’t need water soaking the C. Indicum before cooking while C. Album pulp is light acid bitter and must multi sting on the pulp shell and then soak in water before boiling or cooking. The Muong people, who are living in mountainous provinces of Hoabinh, Thanh Hoa, Phu Tho, Yen Bai, Son La and are reconized as descendants of the stone age Hoabinhian, prefer the C. Indicum and named it as “Bui” or “Pui” with meaning “Buttery Appetite” and took it as Totem tree. Almost today Muong have family name “Bui”. 

The Canarium grows recently in mountainous and upper delta soil of Vietnam. Our ethnobotanic studies in Vietnam showed that its distributions are mainly in hill and mountainous regions. The Muong and Tay, Thai peoples exploit C. Indicum and C. Album in the natural forest around their hamletsand also in their gardens. Never in Vietnam we see the cultivation of Canarium in a form of plantation. Almost indigenous persons who were asked about origin of their cultivated Canarium, answered that : 1- naturaly having from birds (90%). 2- retaining wild Canarium trees during cleaning forest in his garden (7%). 3- cultivation from seed or transplantation from young trees in forest or in neighboring gardens (3%).  

About 15 years ago there was a program of Vietnamese Ministry of Argriculture to develop Canarium (Album/Indicum) gardens as an important using plant among indigenous mountains farmers. But because the long waiting time for harvesting (ca 7 years) this program is seemly dead. Nowaday, some companies and Local Offices for Agriculture try to organize developing Canrium crops with new bio-technology (transplanting) to make short waiting time to harvesting ( only 3 – 5 years). Onbehalb of the Ethnobotanic Research Projects for Canarium  we have started a garden with 40.000 young Canarium (20% C. Album and 80% C. Indicum). 

Through observatings the evolution of Canarium from germinating, shooting we discovered perhaps evidences for Canarium cultivation from Hoabinhian Canrium remains..

Experimentaly and ethnobotanicaly, as collecting for food man looked for only the complet Canarium fruits or seeds. The seed with opening shells because germineting must be eliminated because the kernels becoming non appetite, unedible. That means the unbroken seed shells found in the Hoabinhian context as the case of Xom Trai and Con Moong suggested that the Canarium was cultivated probably since early Holocene Hoabinhian time, ca 9.000 – 8.000 BP.   

2-    Canarium - One of the most used tree in Vietnam

Not only in Vietnam, many international researchers reconized the multi-funtions of Canarium,  especialy in prehistorical contexts.

Pulp and seed

In Vietnam today the canarium pulp is used as vegetable food per boiling, salted, fermenting, drying, cooking with fish… The seed kernels can eat in raw and but they are checked recently as casional food only. These kernels are very butter and appetite but need hart works (harmering, sorting and cleaning), because that in middle age and recent time they belong to casional food while in prehistoric Hoabinhian they belonged to main food. It permises to explain why the canarium seed remains in Hoabinhian context are in charred fragments but in complet form since late neolithic sites in Vietnam.  

Midle Age earthern ground in farmer house

Recently ( ca 50 years ago ) it’s easy to find a farmer house in Red river plain (Northern Vietnam) with earthern ground, which was build strongly by thousands seed halves of canarium. After every eating canarium, man collected the hart seeds then cuts them in the middle with a sharf knife. The halves then are used nailing into earthern ground to make a hart surface.

Prehistoric plant resin :

Basing on analising waisted pebble tools of Hoabinhian many researchers confirmed they must be jointed with wood handles. Experimental studies informed that beside using ropes, strings the resin is very important material for fitting the waist stone tool with its wood handle. Ethnobotanic study reconized the plant fibre ropes were soaked in fresh white Canarium resin before binding wood handle with stone waisted tool. In some such tools excavated in the rock-shelter Du Sang (Hoa Binh, Vietnam) we documented the traces of like-resin. Ethnobotanicaly informed that in Vietnam man used Canarium resin to soak into the plant fibre bunch. After the resine becoming hard, the bunch was used as longterm lighting torch. It’s used also to build the anti-water cover .

Canarium stems as idealest wood for dugout coffins

Rice growing puts the canarium in low significal food. By asking why the canarium trees in mountainous hamlet (of Muong people in Muong Vang, dist. Lac Son, prov. Hoa Binh, for example) became rarely, the answer : they were fail down for funeral coffin making. The wood of canarium is stabile but relativ soft. It’s easy to dugout with an iron axe. The dougout coffin is longterm tradition in Vietnam. Expecial with the Muong, the funeral coffin made from canarium helps the dead lucky and hungryless in the outside world.

Acknowledgess

My deep thanks to Prof. Douglas Yen, former professor in ANU Canbera, Prof. Nguyen Nghia Thin, former professor in VNU Hanoi, who help me in botanical identification of the excavated plant remains presented in this paper. Prof. Peter J. Matthews in National Museum of Ethnology, Osaca sent me many important literatures concerning to ethnobotany and to canarium. He supported me very much to able coming and presenting this paper in Dublin WAC-6. My poor english in abstact, power point paper and this paper was corrected also by him. Hereby I would thank Prof. Peter J. Matthew very much. 

[2] Excavated by Bui Vinh and Pham Gia Doi in 1988. The Canarium samples taken in upper occupation, 14C dating 11.000 BP (14C sample by fresh water snail melania).

[4] The Vietnamese - Bulgarian excavation team used also the dry sieving method to collect materials from Hoabinhian sediments at Dong Cang cave. However, because the sieve mesh size is bigger than ones I used at Xom Trai and Con Moong, the plant remains collected here are only some complete or relatively large fragments. The collection which Dr. Dang Huu Luu permitted me to identify contains only 130 items. They are very typical for the Hoabinhian vegetable food complex. The C-14 dates for Dong Cang were determined by a Polish laboratory from bone and shells of freshwater snails. The most likely dates for Dong Cang Hoabinhian occupation are from 11,000 - 10,000 BP .

OTHERS ARTICLES

[12/16/2019] 越南早期汉文字的铭文(Early Han Inscriptions in Vietnam)

[12/16/2019] MINH VĂN CHỮ HÁN SỚM Ở VIỆT NAM

[8/13/2011] Nguồn cội hình thành truyền thuyết Thánh Gióng

[8/13/2011] Phát hiện thêm trống Đông Sơn có minh văn

[8/13/2011] Yên Bái - Vùng đất của những thạp đồng Đông Sơn lớn nhất và đẹp nhất

[8/29/2010] Ly's name of Giao Chỉ during Han Age

[1/11/2010] Khảo sát dòng họ Lý từ khởi nguồn đến Lý Công Uẩn

[1/10/2010] Những người dân xa xứ đã từng hiến đất mở rộng kinh thành Thăng Long ở TK 15

[10/26/2008] Thạp đồng Đông Sơn của huyện lệnh Long Xoang (Xuyên) Triệu Đà

[10/20/2008] Âu Lạc và Giao Chỉ - một số vấn đề ngữ âm học lịch sử

[10/3/2008] Triệu Đà

[10/1/2008] Thanh kiếm ngắn Đông Sơn mang hình tượng Hai Bà Trưng

[10/1/2008] Đai hội Khảo cổ học Thế giới (WAC-06)

[8/7/2008] Hoabinhian Macro Botany

[8/6/2008] Archaeology of Death in Vietnam

[8/6/2008] Homeland of the HoaBinhian in Vietnam

[8/6/2008] Hoabinhian Food Strategy in Vietnam