Comparison of the sizes of burnt rice seeds from archaeological sites in Northern Vietnam indicates that rice seeds mainly belong to the round plump (short round) type, which includes summer glutinous rice and field glutinous rice. These findings suggest that rice became a popular crop in the life of ancient Vietnamese as early as 3,000 years ago, and was widely distributed in the North of the country. | Vietnam Social Sciences, (179) - 2017 Burnt Rice from Four Archaeological Sites in Northern Vietnam Nguyen Thi Mai Huong1 1 Institute of Archaeology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Email: maihuong72@ Received: 1 November, 2016. Accepted: 25 November, 2016. Abstract: Burnt/charred rice is reported from four archaeological sites. These include: the Den (Vietnamese: Dền) citadel in Me Linh district, Hanoi, dated to 3730±50 - 2630±50 years; the brick tomb of the Six-Dynasty period (4th - 6th centuries) at the Ciputra urban area (Tu Liem district, Hanoi); Noi Lam valley (Ninh Binh); and the Xa Tac (Vietnamese: Xã Tắc) worshipping esplanade (Dong Da district, Hanoi) dating back to the 10th - 11th centuries. Comparison of the sizes of burnt rice seeds from archaeological sites in Northern Vietnam indicates that rice seeds mainly belong to the round plump (short round) type, which includes summer glutinous rice and field glutinous rice. These findings suggest that rice became a popular crop in the life of ancient Vietnamese as early as 3,000 years ago, and was widely distributed in the North of the country. Keywords: Burnt rice, archaeology, northern Vietnam. 1. Introduction From the dawn of history, rice has been regarded as one of the five special grains, which include soybean, wheat, barley and millet. The five grains played an important role in the human story. Rice not only functions as much-needed food, but also is very significant to the spiritual life of the farming population, including those in Vietnam. China is said to be the cradle of ancient rice, especially in its south and southwest and Yangtze River valley, where many samples of ancient rice were discovered [17]. Evidence of ancient rice at the archaeological site of Pengtoushan in 64 Hunan province aged 9,000 years, and of Hemudu in Zhejiang province aged 7,000 years, indicates that these are the earliest traces of rice in China and the world. Besides these traces, many tools for
