Whispering with Civilizations

I remember that early day more than 10 years ago in the My Son Valley of the Gods. Italian professor Patrizia Zolese enthusiastically recounted the "strange occurrences" at the G tower group, while not far away, on the edge of the excavation pit, Mara Landonni picked up broken pieces of brick.

Dr. Patrickcia and her team of conservation and restoration staff at My Son. Photo: My Son Management Board.

A familiar land

Having wandered through Southeast Asia for nearly three decades, Patrizia has stayed longest at My Son. She recounts that her initial motivation came from a reminder from a UNESCO expert: "Look at the ruins to see the destruction of artistic masterpieces by bombs and bullets." Look to see the tragedy of war on these masterpieces, and to understand that restoration is only meaningful when it respects the evidence.

In 2004, as part of a UNESCO-coordinated project, the Vietnamese government, in collaboration with Italy, launched a program of "explanation and training aligned with international conservation standards" for the G tower group. Nearly 10 years later (June 22, 2013), the G tower group opened to visitors. This group of towers is considered by experts to have been restored to its original structural state, preserving the monument's original form, and has been chosen as a "model for the restoration of future Cham towers."

Over a period of 10 years, Patrizia Zolese and her colleagues quietly "dissected" the original materials. They found similarities between the resin of the My Son temples and the binding agent in ancient Cham bricks. This result paved the way for new, compatible bricks produced by artisan Nguyen Qua. Later, "Qua Cham" created bricks that "spoke the same language" as the ancient towers.

Rico at My Son. Photo: My Son Management Board

Patrizia and her husband, Dr. Mauro Cucarzi, following the successful restoration of each group of towers, proposed to the Italian side the establishment of a restoration training center in Quang Nam . For them, the monuments were only truly safe when a generation of local people possessed the necessary skills, discipline, and love to take over. And the Italian archaeological experts simultaneously became the teachers of restoration.

Federico Barocco (affectionately known as Rico) – a graduate in East Asian archaeology from the University of Rome, and further students in Far Eastern History & Archaeology at Peking University – arrived in Vietnam at the age of 27, after years of excavation in Laos and Myanmar. Nearly 10 years later, he lived almost entirely in Vietnam. Rico lived in My Son, then gradually moved to Hoi An, where he opened a small shop called Bazar – Market Street. Since 2016, at the suggestion of the Lerici Foundation – Italy and Quang Nam province, Rico has been a lecturer at a center for monument restoration training for many years.

The Italian restoration experts maintained regular contact with the management team at My Son. They were well-informed about every story and detail of the subsequent excavations at My Son through various channels. It was as if they were implicitly saying that, for them, My Son was a familiar place.

Following in the footsteps of ancient Vietnamese people

In June 2025, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong passed away. He was closely involved with archaeological excavations in Quang Nam province.

Dr. Patrizia Zolese at My Son. Photo: My Son Management Board.

I remember back in August 2014, we had the opportunity to accompany him on the second excavation at the Bau Du site (Tam Xuan commune). Here, Mr. Nguyen Lan Cuong himself participated in reconstructing the remains of ancient humans at Bau Du. The result of the second excavation in this area was the discovery of six clusters of ancient human remains, including some with intact skulls and some limb bones and vertebrae.

We witnessed him sitting silently for hours beside the skull fragments mixed with "scallop mounds." The Bau Du site is also classified by archaeologists as belonging to the early Neolithic period, under the name "Scallop Mound Culture." He said that only when each joint fits together perfectly can we hear the whispers of the ancients. The 5,000-6,000-year-old skulls gradually take shape.

For Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong, in professional discussions, he always places the archaeological sites of Quang Nam province within a broader context: from Binh Yen (Nong Son) - where international colleagues once excavated sites related to the Sa Huynh people - to the Sa Huynh - Phung Nguyen border line imprinted on… ancient human teeth.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong at an archaeological excavation. Photo: NLH

He reiterated the old debate about the culture of the scallop dunes: it is not purely man-made, but a combination of natural and social influences. And it was the offshore waves and the millennia-old civilization that carved out the archaeological sites of Quang Nam province. These fragmented pieces were pieced together to create a narrative of the ancient Vietnamese people, from geological strata and eating habits to burial rituals and coastal navigation methods.

Nguyen Lan Cuong's commitment to excavations in Quang Nam province, and even to excavation and restoration experts from other countries, is ultimately a form of "giving back" to the land.

It's about restoring the names of each generation that once lived on this land, restoring history to the scallop dunes, and restoring depth to Hoi An and the Thu Bon River.

Whether traditional or modern is less important than honesty in the face of evidence, and archaeology is the first step in uncovering this.

Archaeologists and restoration experts from various countries come to Quang Nam, seemingly to pass on a work that never ends: a journey to hear the whispers of the ancients from the depths of the land of Quang Nam, a way of building a foundation for community memory...

Source: https://baodanang.vn/thi-tham-cung-nhung-nen-van-minh-3300860.html