A Đông Sơn drum (; also called Heger Type I drum) is a type of ancient bronze drum created by the Đông Sơn culture that existed in the Red River Delta. The drums were produced from about 600 BCE or earlier until the third century CE; they are one of the culture's most astounding examples of ancient metalworking. The drums, cast in bronze using the lost-wax casting method are up to a meter in height and weigh up to . Đông Sơn drums were apparently both musical instruments and objects of worship. They are decorated with geometric patterns, scenes of daily life, agriculture, war, animals and birds, and boats. The latter alludes to the importance of trade to the culture in which they were made, and the drums themselves became objects of trade and heirlooms. More than 200 have been found, across an area from eastern Indonesia to Vietnam and parts of Southern China. The display on the surface of the Đông Sơn drums are often depicted across many cultural institutes of Vietnam, one being displayed in Vietnam parliamentary office during some of Vietnam's ASEAN summits. History According to ancient history, bronze drums were first mentioned in Shi Ben and Book of the Later Han which said Ma Yuan melted the bronze drums seized from the Lạc Việt in Jiaozhi to make bronze horses. Bronze drums were venerated as cult objects in ancient Vietnam. Excavated bronze drums were worshipped as Thần Đồng Cổ (bronze drum god) in several temples such as the Đông Cổ Temple and the Cao Sơn Temple. Ngoc Lu drum was found in 1893 in Hà Nam Province. Đông Sơn drums along with bronzewares were excavated in 1924 in Đông Sơn village, Thanh Hóa province, Vietnam. In 1902, a collection of 165 large bronze drums was published by F. Heger, who subdivided them into a classification of four types. Chinese archaeologist classified Heger I drums into bigger and heavier Yue drums including the Đông Sơn drums, and the Dian drums, into eight subtypes. The discovery of Đông Sơn drums in New Guinea, is seen as proof of trade connections – spanning at least the past thousand years – between this region and the societies of Java and China. Appearances The drums have a symmetrical appearance with three parts: the barrel (upper body) the head (top part) the leg (bottom part) The patterns on drums bear a realistic