Paper short abstract:

The site is contextualised prior to discussing the demographic composition of the cemetery (n=246 burials), spatial patterning of the burials (e.g. orientation, deposition, field anthropology), and the apparent change in burial practices from the early phases through to final phase.

Paper long abstract:

Con Co Ngua is a water logged cemetery and midden site situated in a low lying valley, 3 km from the Ma River and some 30km from the current coastline in Thanh Hoa province, Northern Vietnam. With 100 burials recovered in 1979 in addition to a further 146 excavated in 2013, this represents one of the most significant hunter-gatherer cemeteries in SEAsia. In this presentation we discuss the context of this site as a prelude to some preliminary observations on the demographic composition of the cemetery, the spatial patterning of the burials, including orientation, and the deposition of the burials (with particular attention to the manner of internment using field anthropology approaches), and, finally, the apparent change in burial practices from the early phases through to final phase. We will also provide some tentative interpretations of these findings in the context of what is perhaps the oldest pre-Neolithic pottery using forager cemetery in Southeast Asia.