Excavating 700 artifacts at the Tay Son Dynasty ruins that used to be a military base

Excavation pit of Dai Huu Cham tower, Phu Cat district, Binh Dinh

The results of the excavation of Dai Huu Cham tower in Cat Nhon commune, Phu Cat district, were announced on July 31. This is the second excavation, lasting from May until now, carried out by the Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Culture and Sports of Binh Dinh.

Dai Huu Tower is considered to be larger than other Cham towers, located at the highest position on the top of Dat Mountain. The tower body has each side of 9 m; the tower interior has a side of 3.8 m; the base is rectangular, nearly square, with sides of 12.7 m x 13 m.

This excavation, experts conducted on the entire body of the tower, the eastern lobby foundation, the northern pedestal foundation and part of the southern and western pedestal foundations.

Altar, inscription, stone ear lobes excavated in the ruins of Dai Huu tower

Archaeologists discovered 156 stone artifacts (sandstone, granite, and marble) used by ancient people as altars, inscription fragments, stone earlobes, decorative stone corners, decorative reliefs of human figures, animal statues, decorative reliefs of lotus petals... In addition, there are 522 artifacts made of terracotta (not including bricks).

According to Dr. Pham Van Trieu, Deputy Head of the Historical Archaeology Department (Institute of Archaeology), from the relics and artifacts, compared with the architecture of the excavated Cham towers, combined with the inscriptions, the ruins of Dai Huu tower date back to around the mid-13th century. After that, the ruins were likely used as a military base by the Tay Son Dynasty in the 18th century.

Decorative stone corner in Dai Huu Cham tower

Previously, in early 2023, the ruins were excavated by the two above-mentioned units in the first phase, revealing part of the northern, southern and eastern tower walls, and collecting many artifacts such as: sandstone altar pieces, stele fragments, Siva statue heads, tower decoration artifacts...

Currently, the Binh Dinh provincial cultural sector and the Institute of Archaeology are completing documents to propose solutions to protect the ruins.

Binh Dinh is home to many Cham relics, of which 14 towers are recognized as national relics.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/khai-quat-700-hien-vat-o-phe-tich-nha-tay-son-tung-lam-can-cu-quan-su-389019.html