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PROJECT 18

Title

Institutions involved

Social sciences institute of Hochiminh-Ville, Archaeology centre
Ecole Fran็aise d'Extr๊me Orient (EFEO)

Keywords

Archaeology/ GIS/ Mekong Delta/ Vietnam

Field

Social sciences (population sciences, anthropology, sociology and history)/ GIS, remote sensing

Short description of the project and of its objectives

After an exploratory mission in september 1995 followed by a period of initial contacts and prospecting in the Mekong Delta in january 1996, a projet started studying the archaeology of different sites in the Mekong delta, often refered to what is called in Vietnam the Oc Eo culture. This project is the result of a collaboration between archaeologists of the Archaeology centre of the social sciences Institute of Hochiminh-Ville and the Ecole Fran็aise d'Extr๊me Orient (EFEO).

The sites contain archaeological remains left by a powerful state with maritime activities which has thrive in the Mekong Delta between the 1st and the VIth century AD.

The program, which first stage will last 5 years, is composed of two main parts: campaigns of excavations organised jointly with vietnamese archaeologists, on sites selected for their high potentiel to contain remains of old housing and maritime trading. For the first campaign, the sites of Oc Eo/Ba Th๊ (An Giang province) have been choosen. Excavations should enable to draw out  typologies which are missing to study this culture and stratigraphical sequences in order to relate the important amount of archaeological pieces to a precise chronology. The Mekong Delta delivered more than 300 sites of the first thousand years of the Christian era.

The scattered information will be turned into computerized databases. Databases will then be used on a GIS software associating the use of remote sensing technique (aerial pictures and spot image), giving consistency to the huge quantity of data that have been collected on the Mekong Delta.

Address for contact

Institut des sciences sociales, Centre d'arch้ologie
49, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai
District 1, Hochiminh-Ville
Tel : (84 8) 829 58 38
Fax : (84 8 ) 822 31 41 or 844 57 06