Scientist passionate about ancient pottery

Han Van Khan was one of the first generations of students majoring in Archaeology at the Faculty of History, Hanoi University of Science (now the Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi). Those generations all enjoyed the entire elite of the "founding generation" Tran Van Giau, Dao Duy Anh, Tran Duc Thao... nurtured and nurtured by the "four pillars" Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan and Tran Quoc Vuong. In addition to being trained as a doctor in the West, Han Van Khan possessed both the feelings of Vietnamese tradition and the logic of Westerners. It was these academic environments that were the important foundation for honing the personality of Han Van Khan later on.

As an archaeologist, he has done fieldwork and excavated many archaeological sites in many regions of the country and internationally, from Bulgaria to Vietnam. He went from the system of inverted hills of the Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau and Go Mun cultures in the Central region, through the system of Dong Son cultural relics along the mother rivers in the Red River Delta, to the ceramic production areas of Hai Duong region and then to the ports of Pho Hien, Van Don, Hoi An... his footprints also stopped at the Co Loa capital of An Duong Vuong, in the village of the two kings of Duong Lam, to the capital of the Ho Dynasty... But the earliest and most intensive were with the Phung Nguyen culture and the Xom Ren relics in his homeland.

Associate Professor, Dr. People's Teacher Han Van Khan was Deputy Head of the Department of History (1982-1984, 1985-1987), Head of the Department of Archaeology (Faculty of History) (1992-2009)/Photo: Thanh Long

WithPhung Nguyen culture, Associate Professor Han Van Khan is considered one of the people who "opened the way" for the research process of the first cultural period of the Bronze Age in Northern Vietnam in particular and contributed to the research of the Hung King period in general. In the articles published in the magazineArcheologyIn the 1970s and 1980s, he analyzed in depth many elements in Phung Nguyen culture pottery such as pattern types, pattern creation experiments, manufacturing techniques, pottery types... on that basis, he divided the Phung Nguyen culture stages. Over the next 40 years, he focused on researching the important cultural stage at the beginning of the emergence of this bronze metallurgy industry. The bookPhung Nguyen culturewas born based on the results of that in-depth and long-term research, in which the basic characteristics and main stages of development of Phung Nguyen culture were identified. This is a work that any researcher of Phung Nguyen culture at home and abroad should refer to before outlining their research ideas.

With Xom Ren, just a stretch of lowland from his house - the place that caused the archaeological cause when he was young, he was the first person to participate in the excavation and also the only person to date to completely summarize this largest relic of Phung Nguyen culture. In the workXom Ren - A particularly important archaeological site of the Bronze Age in Vietnam, archaeologist Han Van Khan made a great effort to honestly, deeply and objectively summarize the achievements of excavation and research of Xom Ren relic, at the same time placing it in the overall process of Phung Nguyen culture and pouring into it many new scientific arguments. Thereby, highlighting the important characteristics of an archaeological relic that many domestic and international scientists consider to be especially rare among more than 70 Phung Nguyen cultural relics. The place witnessed the pioneering steps in the bronze metallurgy revolution and the exploitation of the Red River Delta to give birth to a famous civilization - the wet rice agricultural civilization. He also proved that the Xom Ren people brought stone carving techniques to a peak and mastered the turntable technique in pottery making.

Originating from his PhD thesis on the study of Bronze Age pottery in Northeastern Bulgaria, archaeologist Han Van Khan has always been fascinated with ceramics and the history of Vietnamese ceramics, from the types of patterns and techniques of producing prehistoric terracotta pottery to the historical ceramic kiln system. We have witnessed him sitting and piecing together fragments of a ceramic for days with great attention, then bursting into joy when seeing a new pattern that he had never seen before. In particular, he was interested in excavating, researching and determining the ceramic composition of the kiln system in the Chu Dau ceramic center through cooperation with the Southeast Asian Ceramic Research Center of the University of Adelaide (Australia) in the 1990s. On that basis, he also expanded his research on commercial ceramics and the river and coastal port system in Northern Vietnam. Thereby making certain contributions to the process of ceramic research and the history of Vietnamese ceramics.

Photo: Jackie Chan

Marine archaeology is also an issue that Associate Professor Han Van Khan has been collecting documents and researching since the early 1990s. Until 1993, he edited the bookHistory of Vietnam's coastal islands, under the State-level topic KT03-12. This study has outlined the entire process of human occupation and exploitation in prehistoric and historical times on the coastal islands of Vietnam, with a special emphasis on the Northeast coastal region. And in recent years, his research idea has once again been restarted by the Department of Archaeology through a workshop.Archaeology of Vietnam's Islands: Potential and Prospects, on the basis of that material, the subject is formed.Archaeology of Islandsin the Department of History.

As a teacher, Mr. Han Van Khan was always devoted but gentle, humorous but serious, devoted and selfless. Scientific knowledge is boundless, so he always guided us on a straight and correct "learning path", so that each of us, in our own time, could reach a "shore" that met the standards. He always taught us "to distinguish right from wrong, to be completely loyal and affectionate" and always considered it the highest principle of the teacher/student relationship. The image of the "old teacher" at a "rare" age who often took us young cadres to practice excavation with students is an image that is hard to fade in our minds every time we think of him. Especially when he still held tools to guide each new student on how to repair the wall properly and how to scrape the ground to see traces of the relic, always affectionate and open but no less humorous and gentle.

The heart and vision of a son of his homeland, the affection and knowledge of a teacher for generations of students, the sense of responsibility and sharing of an archaeologist with his colleagues who have accompanied him for the past 50 years, blend and sublimate to form the following works:Phung Nguyen culture,Archaeological Facility,Xom Ren - A particularly important archaeological site of the Bronze Age in Vietnam…

In him, I personally received a special favor, it was like some emotional nuances that everyone in life has more or less experienced, but it is difficult to describe in words. For a long time, I have always felt in the Teacher the fatherly love in the true sense of TEACHER.

In conclusion, I would like to respectfully offer you my heart:

Hmind good soil

Ceramic color blends with essence.

Love is so sweet,

The middle way is the way to the top.