Robert Palera, age 14, of Staten Island, New York for his question:

Is the Vietnamese culture really 4,000 years old?

American soldiers sometimes refer to the Vietnamese as "gooks" and usually fail to understand them. This situation triggered some top scientists to probe the little known past of these people, hoping to find there the secrets of their cultural patterns. Their first scanty evidence may well turn the world of archeology upside down. Certainly our previous notions of mankind's earliest civilizations test be re evaluated and most likely remodeled.

The prehistory of the Vietnamese people merges with all Southeast Asia, predating the present national boundaries. Until recently, nothing much was known about it. Now we have published reports from some very scholarly investigations. This first scanty evidence promises to take the cultural story of mankind back several thousands years. What's more, we may learn that the first stages did not occur in Egypt or Mesopotamia, in India or China. The original cradle of civilization may have been Southeast Asia.

This region, with its fertile lands and balmy climate, its access to seas and waterways, is a likely place for human habitation. Much of its prehistory is buried or choked in jungle vegetation. Some can be traced by comparing languages, religions and artifacts with those of other regions    past and present. The enormous task of assembling the pieces has barely begun.

But a few facts already suggest that the earliest cultures of this region dates back not 4,000, but more likely 20,000 years. The early settlers apparently used polished stone tools several thousand years before other Neolithic cultures. Evidence of their pottery, boats and bronze, their cultivation of rice and other crops also predates the records of other early societies. Possibly these first cultural stages originated in Southeast Asia.

At present, no one is sure who these early people were. But the present mixture of peoples and customs, languages and religions suggest an age long mingling of cultures. In the past 3,000 years or so many customs were exchanged with India and China. Also, the major groups of the region emerged as the present countries of Vietnam and Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Thailand. However, the descendants of the original settlers may be among the many peoples now living quietly in the hills and other remote regions.

Almost from the beginning, Southeast Asia has been torn by invasions and warfare. Now and then, the various countries had a 200 year or so period of peace    and used it to build up empires and fabulous cities. Then China or some other agressive neighbor attacked and the peak of civilization declined into the jungle. The toughest were the Vietnamese. History taught them a multitude of subtle methods of cope with invaders. At one time they persisted 1,000 years before ousting a Chinese invasion. At other times they used their talents aggressively against Cambodia    and these scars still remain.

Obviously nature intended different cultures to strive for friendship and cultural exchanges    and obviously these simple ideals failed in Southeast Asia. As this fabulous past story unfolds, perhaps we can learn to turn a glorious new page in history. Maybe the Vietnamese can teach us how they maintained their fertile lands through ages of turbulence. Maybe we can teach them that a nation can help another without stealing it    and that history does not intend people to use a period of peace to plan for the next war.