Vietnam: Ha Dong axe, Dong Son culture, c. 400-100 BCE

Đông Sơn was a prehistoric Bronze Age culture in Vietnam centered on the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam. At this time the first Vietnamese kingdoms of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc appeared. Its influence flourished in other neighbouring parts of Southeast Asia from about 500 BCE to 100 CE.

One side of the Ha Dong axe blade is decorated with a vivid hunting scene by boat. We see a curved-prow boat with two hunters standing on the boat, raising javelins in their hands over their heads as if they are going to throw them. Under the boat there are two deer with large antlers, one with a slender belly and the other with a big belly, probably manifesting the male and female deer.

They are tensing their legs to run away. In front of them is a hunting dog, with a slender belly and long muzzle, which is trying to prevent the deer from running away.

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