This pediform or shoe-shaped axe head, decorated with deer motifs, is one example of many types of bronze ritual weapons that were used in burials of the Dong Son culture. Large quantities of these have been found with ritual drums in burials in the Red River Delta region. Stone moulds with carved impressions were used to cast these weapons. The sophisticated technology used in bronze-casting, suggests that Dong Son society was advanced enough to have specialists who would have worked full-time in this field. The effects of this were to be seen in the spread of bronze goods such as the ritual drum throughout the Southeast Asian region.
