Close-up of ancient artifacts found under Dai Huu tower in Binh Dinh

Located on the top of Dat Mountain, the Dai Huu Tower ruins (Chanh Man village, Cat Nhon commune, Phu Cat district, Binh Dinh province) were excavated and nearly 700 artifacts were discovered, including relief statues found for the first time in Champa culture. Dr. Pham Van Trieu, Vietnam Institute of Archaeology, said the excavation process revealed the entire body of the tower, the foundation, the tower with the eastern entrance and a fake door system.

The Dai Huu tower has a larger architectural scale than other Champa towers. With its large architectural scale, located on the highest position of Dat mountain, researchers have identified it as the main tower (also known as Kalan), dating back to around the middle of the 13th century.

In the middle of the tower is the sacred pit, this is the central architecture of the tower, located under the brick foundation of the tower. In the center of the sacred pit is the sacred pillar.

In particular, during the excavation process, researchers found 678 artifacts made of stone and terracotta of various types. Among them, for the first time, they discovered a relief statue never seen before in Champa culture.

The relief depicts a man, his left hand holding an unidentified object, his left leg kneeling, his right hand and right leg being pulled backwards by another pair of hands. Researchers believe that this is the first relief found in Champa culture, so it is not yet clear what this relief represents, and it will take time to research.

The relief has two perpendicular sides, each side is carved with two human figures sitting facing each other, used to decorate the base of the tower. Researchers believe that the headdress of the human statue with the profile is very similar to the warrior's helmet carved in the stone wall of Angkor Wat, this wall depicts the naval battle between Champa and Khmer troops in 1177.

The lion statue discovered in Dai Huu ruins is similar to the lion statue in G1-My Son tower (Quang Nam province)...

In addition, based on household ceramic pieces dating from around the 17th-18th centuries. These artifacts are associated with Chanh Man citadel built by the Tay Son dynasty in the northeast, at the foot of Dat mountain. Thereby, reflecting that in the late 18th century, the Dai Huu tower ruins area was an important military base of the Tay Son dynasty. Dr. Le Dinh Phung, member of the Vietnam Archaeological Association, commented that the archaeological discoveries at Dai Huu tower revealed many possibilities that the Champa people had previously dismantled this ancient tower, moved many valuable artifacts and sculptures to hide elsewhere, leaving broken and damaged artifacts to this day. "From this excavation, I suspect that there are still many warehouses hiding valuable sculptures in Binh Dinh. Because with a large amount of heavy stone, it is very difficult to transport them far away," Dr. Le Dinh Phung commented.