Biocultural Identities of an Early Maritime Silk Road Community: Preliminary Results from Giồng Cá Vồ (Southern Vietnam)

Wanda Zinger1*, Veena Mushrif-Tripathy2, Aude Faverau3, Nguyen Thi Hau5, Bérénice Bellina4, Luong Chan Tong6, Lam My Dzung7, and Nguyen Huu Manh7

The archaeological site of Giồng Cá Vồ, located in Cần Giờ on the southern coast of Vietnam, lies at the interface between the fluvial networks of the Đồng Nai basin and the maritime exchange routes of the Southeast Asian Seas. Dating to the Metal Age (5th century BCE - 5th century CE), it is the only known Southeast Asian port site associated with early maritime Silk Road exchanges that has yielded a substantial human skeletal assemblage. Excavations conducted in 1993 and 2021 revealed an exceptional jar-burial necropolis comprising approximately 545 primary burials. The funerary assemblages indicate exchange networks connecting mainland Southeast Asia to insular Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. This diversity raises key questions regarding the biological composition of the buried population: does the cemetery reflect a heterogeneous group shaped by long-distance mobility, or a local community embedded within wider exchange networks? To address these issues, we apply an osteobiographical approach, combining multiple bioanthropological analyses with archaeological data. This paper introduces the bioanthropological research program developed for Giồng Cá Vồ and reports preliminary results from the first jar burials excavated in 2026. These findings provide initial insights into the biological diversity, health status, and potential mobility of one of the earliest port communities associated with the maritime Silk Routes in mainland Southeast Asia.