Showing papers by "Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences published in 2011"

An Son and the Neolithic of Southern Vietnam

Abstract: Between 4500 and 3500 years ago, partially intrusive Neolithic populations in the riverine basins of mainland Southeast Asia began to form mounded settlements and to develop economies based on rice cultivation, fishing, hunting, and the domestication of animals, especially pigs and dogs. A number of these sites have been excavated in recent years and they are often large mounds that can attain several meters in depth, comprising successive layers of alluvial soil brought in periodically to serve as living floors. The site of An Son is of this type and lies in a small valley immediately north of the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. Excavated on five occasions since 1978, and most recently in 2009, it was occupied from the late third into the late second millennium b.c . An Son has produced evidence that attests the domestication of pigs and dogs in all layers apart (perhaps) from the most basal one, which was not investigated in 2009, together with the growing of rice of the subspecies Oryza sativa japonica , of Chinese Neolithic origin. The oldest pottery has simple incised and punctate zoned decoration with parallels in central Thailand, especially in the basal phases at Nong Nor and Khok Phanom Di. From its middle and later occupation phases (1800–1200 b.c .), An Son has produced a number of supine extended burials with finely decorated pottery grave goods that carry some unique forms, especially vessels with wavy or serrated rims. The An Son burials represent a Neolithic population that expressed a mixture of both indigenous Hoabinhian and more northerly (probably Neolithic southern Chinese) cranial and dental phenotypes, perhaps representing a likely ancestral population for some of the modern Austroasiatic-speaking populations of mainland Southeast Asia.

Sustainability assessment for solar plant and wind power projects for con co island, quang tri province, vietnam

Abstract: Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Programme mentioned in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is one of the main initiatives of the world community to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. In Vietnam, solar plant and wind power development are two important resolutions to address the impact of climate change and GHG reduction. To evaluate the sustainability of these projects, a solar plant and wind power project on Con Co Island, Quang Tri province, Vietnam is taken as a case study. The analytic hierarchy process and multi-criteria assessment are applied as the main measurement instruments. Scenario I provides the sustainability scores of composite sustainable development index (ICSD: 0.509) for the solar plant and for the wind plant (ICSD: 0.490). In Scenario II both power projects score high (the solar plant ICSD: 0.86 and the wind power ICSD: 0.838). The multi-indicator assessment allows evaluating the two projects on the island. The results of this study indicated that, these projects help to reduce the environmental pollution and improve the local life. In addition, it raises the awareness of decision-makers about the values of the energy systems as part of the CDM.