In the middle of February 2009, during the construction of the hygienic complexe of the college of Duc Tu (commune of Duc Tu, huyen of Dong Anh, Hanoi), the workers of construction have discovered rows of bricks, disposed in arch. Special decorations are found on a side of these bricks. Thinking that these are ”singular” signs of perhaps an ancient vestige, the Direction of the Project of construction of the college has reported the news of the discovery to local authorities to give the alarm to responsible services.
In the middle of February 2009, during the construction of the hygienic complexe of the college of Duc Tu (commune of Duc Tu, huyen of Dong Anh, Hanoi), the workers of construction have discovered rows of bricks, disposed in arch. Special decorations are found on a side of these bricks. Thinking that these are ”singular” signs of perhaps an ancient vestige, the Direction of the Project of construction of the college has reported the news of the discovery to local authorities to give the alarm to responsible services.
On the 27 February 2009, under the presidence of the Direction of the Service of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hanoi, a multi-service study group comprising the Service of Cultural Patrimonies, the National Museum of Vietnamese History (of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the Institute of Archaeology, the Museum of Hanoi, the Committee of Management of Vestiges and renowned Landscapes of Hanoi, has undertaken the exploration on place.(photo).
The vestige is situated on a high land, close to the garden of the school, with in the north an area of low rice-fields (photo). The vestige is situated at a depth of 1.2m. According to the discoverers, it is an evacuation channel of 4,2m long, which tends to extend at the two ends, the roof of the arch is more than 1m broad and tends to extend in the two sides. and is formed by rows of bricks arranged side by side hermetically, without mortar (photo). The bricks are dark brown, dark red, sometimes grey because of the high tremperature of heating, rectangular, flat (38cm long, 18cm broad, 4 to 4,5cm thick). It is to be noted the appearance of bricks in the form of “quarters of grape-fruit”, currently used in the Han tombs. One side of these bricks are decorated with interlaced lozenges (photo).
From the preceding signs, the study-group has concluded that this is a second tomb discovered in the domain of the commune of Duc Tu. The first tomb has been discovered and excavated in 2007 on the field of Cua Den, close to the railway which passes at 500m at the east. The signs of a arch tomb are those of the burial technics of the Han, imported in Vietnam at the beginning of our era. The signs found on the vestige are only the arch part of the tomb which is rather spacious. It is probable that the tomb extends further in the two sides, with “auricles”, often found in this type of tombs. It is a rather intact tomb, which has lost only its mamelon after soil returnings. Thus, the tomb needs an urgent excavation, to give back the ground to the college and also because the construction has had bad influences on the state of the tomb.
Actually, the building yard has temporarily stopped its activity, and keeps intact the site waiting for the relative services to undertake the study and the excavation. The Service of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hanoi has agreed to entrust the Museum of Hanoi to invite the National Museum of Vietnamese History and the Institute of Archaeology to coordinate in the study and the excavation of this site in order to get informations on the extent, the dimensions, the age, the owner… and the relative problems. The study and the excavation of the site will be an opportunity to better understand a region having a historical thickness, and also an opportunity to study and gather specimens for the National Museum of Vietnamese History for the millenium of Thang Long – Hanoi.
Nguyễn Văn Đoàn