The Ancient Stone Field

Location

Consisting of several stones with ancient images carved on them, this is a famous sight located in Muong Hoa valley, Lao Cai. The Ancient Stone Field reaches an area of 8 sq. km; it lies between the staircase-like rice fields.

Archeological values

Researches have been done there for the first time in 1925 on about 200 pieces of stone of different sizes and shapes. Nowadays, the biggest stone that you can find there is probably Hon Bo (Bo means father in Vietnamese), which has the length of 15m (45ft) and the height of 6m (18ft). Besides the unexplainable organization of these stones, the images drawn on them also become the subject of several researches. They include different images of people, flowers, stilt houses, and undecipherable letter-like symbols. On this field, there are also stones dedicated to wives and husbands, and the stones on which spells were written. According to the historians, the spells might have targeted at the huge tigers which threatened the villages. On the other hand, the Wife-Husband stones referred to the pure and unbreakable love of a couple who overcame the obstacles to live together. When they died, they turned into two stones turning to each other.The Ancient Stone Field has been proved by scientists to have existed for many centuries; it is a heritage of the ancient Vietnamese people. Nowadays, it has become popular to not only the science community but also tourists from everywhere in the world.