Bronze drum

The earliest written records describing the drum appeared in the Shi Ben, a Chinese book dated from the 3rd century BC.

[4] The 14th century book Việt Điện U Linh Tập mentioned the Bronze drum cult as early as in 1020.

[5] In 1902, a collection of 165 large bronze drums was published by Austrian archaeologist Franz Heger, who subdivided them into a classification of four types.

In China, during the Great Leap Forward campaign from 1958 to 1960, people were mobilized to collect all metal materials, including ancient bronze wares, were melted down to producing steel in backyard furnaces.

One iconic pattern found on the top of all Đông Sơn drums is a "star" image, with various number of spikes radiating out from a center, its meaning is unknown at present.

Đông Sơn drums are also found in the islands of Indonesia and were discovered as far as in Java and New Guinea and is seen as proof of trade connections between these regions.

[8] According to researchers, bronze drums originated from the Dong Son culture, which is associated with the period when the Hung Kings established the Van Lang kingdom.

Ritual burials of Dian elites were accompanied by large bronze drums filled with cowrie shells.

[14] This claim has fueled objections from Vietnamese archaeologists who classify Wanjiaba drums, also found in Vietnam, to belong in the late Heger I period.

Heger IV drums are found in China and Vietnam, they are sometimes decorated by Earthly Branches animals and other Chinese elements.

In Vietnamese culture, the bronze drum ({{vi:Trống đồng}}, 𪔠銅) is an important national symbol of the Hùng Kings founding myth.