Champa and the Archaeology of Mỹ Sơn (Vietnam)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 |
435 | |
Common terms and phrases
Ahier and Awar ancient Andrew Hardy Asian Bani priests BEFEO Bình Định Bình Thuận bricks Buddhist buildings built Cambodia Carpeaux central Vietnam century Cham Balamon Champa Chế Chinese conservation construction cultural Đà Nẵng Đại damage decorative địa Đồng Dương EFEO ethnic excavation fault G Group Guimet Hanoi Henri Parmentier Heritage Hòa Hoàng Hội inscriptions internal intervention joints kalan Kazimierz Kwiatkowski khảo cổ học Khmer Khoa học king laterite layer Lerici Foundation Archive masonry materials monuments mortar mountain Musée Guimet Mỹ Sơn Mỹ Sơn archaeological nāga Nguyễn Nha Trang Nhơn Ninh Thuận Paris Parmentier's Phan Rang Photograph Lerici Foundation Phú Phú Yên Politecnico di Milano Quảng Ngãi Quy Nhơn religious resin restoration river samples sculpture Śiva Sơn archaeological area Southeast Asia structures sub-meridian Sunni Islam survey tectonic temple temple-towers territory Thành tháp Tông tower Trà Trần Kỳ Phương UNESCO Văn về Việt Vietnam Vietnamese wall