| Abstract: |
This is a preliminary report on two Chinese Han mirrors found in excavations by the Centre for Archaeology, Institute of Social Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City. One of the mirrors was found inside a typical Sa Huynh jar burial at the Benh Yen site, where Bui Chi Hoang and Yamagata Mariko, collaborating with the Quang Nam Provincial Museum, carried out excavations from March to April in 1998. The second mirror was found inside a Heger I type bronze drum at the Phu Chanh site, Binh Duong Province in southern Viet Nam, where the Centre for Archaeology led by Pham Duc Manh and the Binh Duong Provincial Museum organized a salvage excavation in January 1999. These are the first Western Han mirrors to have been found in central and southern Viet Nam, although several have been found in Han style tombs in the area of northern Viet Nam which was incorporated into the Jiao Zhi and Jiu Zhen commanderies by the Western Han Emperor Wu Di in 111 BC (Vandermeersch 1960). Additionally, in the Mekong delta, two Han mirror fragments were found at Oc Eo (Malleret 1960: 231). However, these are Eastern Han mirrors, later than two mirrors reported here.
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