Thanks to the help of the friends and relatives, the goat house of Mr. Bui Van Bay's family in Hui hamlet, Cao Son commune (Luong Son) has soon been completed.

The imprints of the ancients

Taking us to visit the ruins of Cho cave, Mr. Bui Van Thanh, the head of Hui hamlet, says: "Although it has not been built into a tourism area to serve tourists, usually there are archaeological groups and groups of students coming to the cave. This cave is not deep but wide, the air is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. On the hot summer days, people come here to avoid the sunlight. Some people even sleep in the cave overnight. On the cold days, people often come to the cave to warm up. Also, from the time of avoiding the sunlight, people have discovered traces of the ancients”. Mr. Thanh took me to see in the rock cavity and in the snail floor in the narrow cave, the local people discovered the fossil teeth. These are the precious artifacts that help the scientists have more data about Cho cave and Hoa Binh Culture.

Cho cave located in Hui hamlet, Cao Son commune iss in the southwest of Sang mountain range, the mouth of the cave facing the southwest is a tall, cool stone roof, which is 6.5m higher than the field surface. The cave has 2 doors separated by a large rock with a circumference of 27m, the main door is 11m wide, the side door is 5.5m wide, and the average height is 10m. The cave is 15m deep in the mountain, gradually narrowing inwards. The width of the cave has the widest place up to 14m, the doors are all facing the west to catch the cool breeze in the summer and to avoid the cold north wind in the winter. Cho cave has been excavated by Mrs. M.Colani, a French female archaeologist since December 1926 (Unpublished documents). During this excavation, she obtained 1,143 artifacts of all kinds. Currently, Vietnam History Museum still preserves many artifacts of the cave including animal bones, various types of stone tools, chopping tools, disc-shaped tools, almond-shaped tools and one of the stripping pieces of many kinds. The research results of the scientists during the excavations and surveys have confirmed that the relic of Cho cave is a long-term residence of the prehistoric inhabitants of Hoa Binh. At the same time, it is also a site of the Workshop dating back 10,000 years ago, during the transition period to the Middle Neolithic period in our country.

Keeping the community culture

Living based on nature, mainly hunting and gathering, the residential community of Hoa Binh Culture always helped and supported each other in labor and production. Nowadays, the people in Cao Son commune not only live by agriculture, many households, especially the young labor force, work in the industrial zones with high income. Mr. Bui Minh Chau, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Cao Son Commune says: Despite the ups and downs of history and the impact of the market mechanism, many cultural features of the Muong community here still retain their identity. They bond with each other through the friendship, helping each other in labor, production and when they have family work. In the past, when a household built a house, the owner only took care of a part of the materials and workers. The other households in the village would contribute timber, thatcheds and send a worker from the family to help build the house. Now, although there are no longer wooden houses and thatched houses, the households in the village all contribute their efforts to support the owners. In production, too, the households mobilize people to support the owners in the form of labor exchange or help the poor household or the households with difficult circumstances. Especially when the owner has a bereavement, the support is maily from the other households in the village.

Near the Cho cave is the earthen garden of Mr. Bui Van Bay's family in Hui hamlet. He is building a goat stable. He says: For the past few years, I have raised goats on the mountains, so it is not effective. This year, I can afford to buy materials and ask my friends and neighbors for support. Many people are working far away with high wages, but when they know that the friends and neighbors have jobs, they ask for a leave of absence to help. Even my family, when the neighbors ask, we wholeheartedly support. That is the custom of the people here for generations.