Proposal for urgent excavation of Cam An ancient ship

On the morning of November 8, an ancient ship in the Cam An sea area, the former Hoi An city (temporarily called the Cam An ancient ship) suddenly resurfaced on the beach with a clearer size, shape, and more details. However, in the afternoon of the same day, the ship “disappeared” again, possibly buried again under the sea as before.

Apply temporary protective measures

After the heavy rain and floods caused by the recent storms No. 12 and 13, the waves caused serious coastal erosion, revealing the shipwreck relic (the ancient Cam An ship) in the coastal area of Thinh My, Hoi An Tay ward, Da Nang city (formerly Cam An ward, Hoi An city, Quang Nam ). This reappearance shows the ship's shape more clearly with a size of about 18mx5m. Through observation, many wooden parts have become soft and rotten. Compared to the appearance at the end of 2023, this time the ancient ship appeared almost intact.

After a brief appearance, at around 3pm on November 8, when the tide rose, the ship disappeared again, possibly sinking back into the sea as before. By yesterday morning, November 9, the ship had reappeared.

Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc, Deputy Director of Hoi An World Cultural Heritage Conservation Center (Hoi An Center) said that immediately after receiving information about the reappearance of the ancient ship, the authorities and specialized units went to the scene to deploy protection work, conduct zoning, put up warning signs and propagate people not to approach, in order to protect the current state of underwater heritage. At the same time, the Center's experts recorded and surveyed the current state to have a detailed report to the authorities to have the next plan suitable to the actual situation.

Hoi An Center has sent a report to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang City about the discovery of shipwreck relics in the coastal area of Hoi An Tay ward. After the first discovery phase, the ship continued to be buried deep under the sea sand. Through surveying and recording the scene on the morning of November 8, many details of the ship were revealed, the width of the ship was measured at more than 5m, the length of the exposed part was currently measured at 17.4m and the length may not be complete because it is still buried under the sand; details of the raft, planks, partitions, etc. are quite clear. The current status of the ship's location, the sea level rising and falling by the day, causing the ship to be buried in sand and then exposed frequently.

Currently, Hoi An Center has taken some temporary protection measures such as placing prohibition signs in the area where the ship is located, contacting some local people to help monitor the ship's silting progress to inform the Center, and at the same time sending a document to Hoi An Tay Ward People's Committee requesting the locality to coordinate in monitoring and taking protective measures; propagating and mobilizing people and tourists to participate in protecting the exposed traces, not arbitrarily digging in this area.

Need to be implemented soon

Faced with the situation of serious coastal erosion, and the frequent exposure of relics to adverse weather factors that cause damage if there are no preservation measures, the issue of protecting the current status when the ship is exposed also faces many difficulties.

Therefore, Hoi An Center proposes to carry out procedures to organize emergency excavation and initial preservation of this relic. In the long term, continue to organize and carry out research to accurately determine the structure, age, origin, owner and relationship of the Cam An ship, from which to plan and develop detailed solutions for the excavation and preservation of the ship and the collected artifacts to ensure the originality and integrity of the ship and the collected artifacts. In particular, the excavation and research work and preservation during excavation and post-excavation preservation must be carried out simultaneously and consistently.

As reported by Van Hoa , on the morning of December 26, 2023, in the coastal area of Boutique Hoi An Resort in Thinh My block, Cam An ward, Hoi An city in the past, sea waves exposed a large wooden ship buried in the sand layer in the coastal area of Cam An ward. In February 2024, the People's Committee of Quang Nam province (old) agreed on the policy of emergency excavation of the relic. The Center coordinated with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University, Quang Nam Provincial Museum (now Da Nang Museum) to conduct and complete a survey of this shipwreck relic. The initial survey and specimen appraisal results showed that the ship was large in size, had a strong structure, was built from wood with high durability and good bearing capacity, such as Lagerstroemia (sang le), Kien Kien and pine, and used a sealant to prevent water from entering the ship. The ship's structure allows for long voyages such as commercial activities at sea or naval warfare.

For some objective reasons, the absolute C14 dating results of the ship have not yet given results, but with the location where the ship was discovered deep inland, and the deep similarity in structural features, construction techniques and building materials with traditional East Sea shipwrecks discovered in Southeast Asian waters, it shows that the ship is highly likely to date from the late 14th to the 16th century.

From this scientific report, the professional agency has proposed a solution to preserve the Cam An ancient ship in its original state to avoid damage and deformation due to environmental and human impacts. Planning, when there are sufficient conditions for preservation and promotion of value, will re-investigate, excavate, conduct archaeological research, and propose directions for preservation and promotion of value in accordance with the nature and state of preservation. However, since then, the ship has been buried under the sea by sand.

For many objective reasons, the authorities only carried out the protection zone, and could not carry out the excavation work because the work of preserving, conserving artifacts, and promoting the value after excavation is very strict, adhering to scientific standards, requiring many professional conditions, human resources, material resources, infrastructure, etc., and even being very costly. With the actual conditions at that time, if the excavation was completed without ensuring good preservation and conservation stages, it would lead to damage and affect the archaeological heritage. It would even affect the guarantee of preserving the originality of the relic based on the results of excavation and scientific research.

“From the findings and through initial surveys, the above analysis, comparison and comments show that Cam An boat is an important underwater cultural heritage in Hoi An. To better understand the values of the boat itself in terms of origin, age, structure and technique, owner, function, etc., it is not only necessary to have a thorough excavation and research project implemented by experts with interdisciplinary coordination, but also to have a plan and method to effectively manage, preserve and promote the boat after excavation and research,” Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc added.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/de-xuat-khai-quat-khan-cap-tau-co-cam-an-180422.html