Champa and the Archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam)

Front Cover
Andrew David Hardy, Mauro Cucarzi, Patrizia Zolese
NUS Press, 2009 - 440 pages
The kings of ancient Champa, a civilization located in the central region of today's Vietnam, started building sacred temples in a circular valley more than 1500 years ago. The monuments, now known by the Vietnamese name M? So'n, were discovered by nineteenth-century colonial soldiers and first studied by the French architect Henri Parmentier. Bombed during the Vietnam War, the ruins of the brick towers, decorated with exquisite carvings and sculptures, were designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1999. An Italian team has worked at the site for the last ten years, doing archaeological research and restoration work in cooperation with Vietnamese specialists. This book is the first published volume based on their efforts. The opening section consists of historical, anthropological and architectural studies of the civilization of Champa. The remainder of the book presents an unusually intimate and extensively illustrated portrait of the archaeologists' research and restoration work at M? So'n. While this book is important for specialists and students of the history and archaeology of Champa and Southeast Asia, it also tells a fascinating story that will appeal to general readers and visitors to this exceptional archaeological site.
 

Contents

The French Excavations
14
Inspiration for
33
The Vietnamese Southward Expansion as Viewed
61
Two Keys to Understanding the Cosmology
78
Eaglewood and the Economic History of Champa
107
Artistic Exchange Regional Dialogue and
121
The Architecture of the TempleTowers
155
Results of the Archaeological Investigations at Mỹ Sơn
197
Construction Techniques
260
Materials Characterisation
283
Conservation Design and Intervention
312
Restoration of the Laterite Enclosure Wall and Rehabilitation
332
Neotectonic and Geomorphological Characteristics of
349
Absolute Dating of the Mỹ Sơn Monuments
369
Authors Affiliations
417
Index
435

Damage Affecting Structures and Materials
238

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information