I am sometimes surprised at people’s assumption that piercing and body modification has its roots and history amongst “primitive” tribal people living in the jungle somewhere. I live in Mexico and I am regularly reminded by the public that my stretched ear lobes are like the Africans. “Actually they are just like your Zapotec and Mixtec ancestors”, is my typical response. The Zapotecs were not hunter gathers, they had large urban centers, advanced calendar systems, elaborate burial rites, and practiced cranial and dental modification as well as tattooing and piercing. Advanced societies throughout the world practiced piercing in Egypt, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Mesoamerica. I recently acquired some amazing ancient Vietnamese ear weights that clearly demonstrate that piercing was not exclusively part of primitive cultures but also part of highly advanced civilizations. These are from the Sa Huynh culture that flourished between 1000 BCE to 200 CE, and had a unique tradition of cremating the dead and putting the ashes and offerings in large ceramic jars.
The Sa Huynh were sea farers and master craftsmen, producing magnificent jade and glass ear jewelry. They had an extensive trade network, Sa Huynh ear ornaments have been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia. They had a special connection with the Philippines, where Sa Huynh ear weights and ceramics have been discovered in the Kalany Cave complex. Other discoveries of Sa Huynh artifacts have been found on Orchid Island in Taiwan, in Thailand, as far north as Hong Kong and as far south as Java. Conversely, many of the beads discovered in Sa Huynh burial sites are made from materials foreign to that region. Carnelian, agate, zircon, gold, and garnet were traded from as far away as India and perhaps China.
My particular focus is on glass, and this group of pieces is an excellent opportunity to put early glass making into historical context. Glass making was not invented by accident, and the technology and physical forms of the jewelry were based on pre-existing technology and regional styles respectively. Historically, the spread of glass technology in ancient India follows the spread of iron working, and this pattern is repeated in Vietnam. The Sa Huynh specialized in iron tools and weapons in contrast to the contemporaneous Dong Son culture in Northern Vietnam, who specialized in bronze artifacts. It seems probable that the high temperatures and powerful furnaces necessary to smelt iron were a pre-requisite for melting glass as well. The greenish color common in much of the Sa Huynh glass is the result of iron being mixed into the glass batch as a colorant.
There are three widely recognized styles of Sa Huynh ear weights, two of which are pictured here.
One classic form used by the Sa Huynh was a rounded ear weight with a small hook that passes through the ear, with three protruding diamonds coming off the bottom and sides. These are called linling-o . The Ifugao peoples in the Philippines still manufacture this style of ear weights and call them bung or boong and trade them with their neighbors, the Bontoc, Kalinga, and Gad-dang.
The Sa Huynh were sea farers and master craftsmen, producing magnificent jade and glass ear jewelry. They had an extensive trade network, Sa Huynh ear ornaments have been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia. They had a special connection with the Philippines, where Sa Huynh ear weights and ceramics have been discovered in the Kalany Cave complex. Other discoveries of Sa Huynh artifacts have been found on Orchid Island in Taiwan, in Thailand, as far north as Hong Kong and as far south as Java. Conversely, many of the beads discovered in Sa Huynh burial sites are made from materials foreign to that region. Carnelian, agate, zircon, gold, and garnet were traded from as far away as India and perhaps China.
My particular focus is on glass, and this group of pieces is an excellent opportunity to put early glass making into historical context. Glass making was not invented by accident, and the technology and physical forms of the jewelry were based on pre-existing technology and regional styles respectively. Historically, the spread of glass technology in ancient India follows the spread of iron working, and this pattern is repeated in Vietnam. The Sa Huynh specialized in iron tools and weapons in contrast to the contemporaneous Dong Son culture in Northern Vietnam, who specialized in bronze artifacts. It seems probable that the high temperatures and powerful furnaces necessary to smelt iron were a pre-requisite for melting glass as well. The greenish color common in much of the Sa Huynh glass is the result of iron being mixed into the glass batch as a colorant.
There are three widely recognized styles of Sa Huynh ear weights, two of which are pictured here.
One classic form used by the Sa Huynh was a rounded ear weight with a small hook that passes through the ear, with three protruding diamonds coming off the bottom and sides. These are called linling-o . The Ifugao peoples in the Philippines still manufacture this style of ear weights and call them bung or boong and trade them with their neighbors, the Bontoc, Kalinga, and Gad-dang.
The first lingling-o weights shown are made of stone, the second image is of jade (nephrite), and the third image is of glass.
The same shape and composition was used in all three materials. The glass was carved from a cast block, in the same manner that jade was carved. This illustrates how lapidary skills were also a pre cursor to the manufacture of early glass ear weights.
It may be that the Sa Huynh shared the same respect for jade as the Chinese. Jade was considered a magical and sacred material that increased longevity. Early Chinese experiments in glass making were made by Taoist alchemists trying to invent a man-made jade. In this context glass was not considered imitation but creation, working within formal aesthetic restraints informed by earlier jewelry traditions.
The same shape and composition was used in all three materials. The glass was carved from a cast block, in the same manner that jade was carved. This illustrates how lapidary skills were also a pre cursor to the manufacture of early glass ear weights.
It may be that the Sa Huynh shared the same respect for jade as the Chinese. Jade was considered a magical and sacred material that increased longevity. Early Chinese experiments in glass making were made by Taoist alchemists trying to invent a man-made jade. In this context glass was not considered imitation but creation, working within formal aesthetic restraints informed by earlier jewelry traditions.
The second collection of glass ear crescents are interesting because of the wide variety of color and size of the pieces. Several shades of green, blue, purple, and black can be identified. These pieces appear to be manufactured hot in a flame and later ground down and polished to form the triangular shape. This shows a further sophistication in glass working as it is more complicated to manipulate hot glass than to carve it after it has cooled to a solid. The range of colors illustrrates an advanced understanding of glass chemistry. The discovery of glass workshops and pits of white sand at Giong Ca Vo archaelogical site in Ho Chi Minh City is further proof that they melted their own glass, although it is probable that they also imported glass blocks from India. Stylistically the Sa Huynh ear crescents resemble the popular leech motifs found in Dayak imagery from Borneo, and may point to a common ancestry of the two cultures. There are similarities between ancient burial sites in Borneo and Vietnam that support this theory.
In conclusion, the Sa Huynh was a highly sophisticated civilization with urban centers, wide spanning trade, complex burial rights, and advanced technology. They achieved a highly advanced level of glass working technology over two thousand years ago. This development viewed in the context of iron working and lapidary traditions helps us to understand how glass technology evolved and how earlier jewelry forms were replicated in glass. The focus on glass as a raw material and as jewelry highlights the extensive trade relations the Sa Huynh had in the ancient world.
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