section_path: Asia/Southeast Asia/Vietnam
section_name: Vietnam
paragraph_text: Vietnam
  
  Dating back to the Neolithic Age, the first bronze drums, called the Dong Son drums, were uncovered in and around the Red River Delta regions of Northern Vietnam and Southern China. These relate to the Dong Son culture of Vietnam.
  
  Archaeological research in Northern Vietnam indicates an increase in rates of infectious disease following the advent of metallurgy; skeletal fragments in sites dating to the early and mid-Bronze Age evidence a greater proportion of lesions than in sites of earlier periods. There are a few possible implications of this. One is the increased contact with bacterial and/or fungal pathogens due to increased population density and land clearing/cultivation. The other one is decreased levels of immunocompetence in the Metal Age due to changes in diet caused by agriculture. The last is that there may have been an emergence of infectious diseases that evolved into a more virulent form in the metal period.