A recent excavation at the Lo Gach archaeological site in the vicinity of Kom Pong Thmo Pagoda, the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, has revealed intact large-scale earthen ramparts believed to be the largest found so far in the southwestern region.
The ramparts, with the East-West side 890m long and the North-South side 750m long, are between 2-3m high and 10-12 m wide, even 20m wide in some places.
The dig, carried out on 400m2 of ground by experts from the Museum of Tra Vinh and the archaeological centre of the Southern Institute of Social Sciences, also found vestiges of a number of religious structures, including a rectangular mound measuring 20m by 14m.
The Lo Gach site was first excavated in the 1980s. The findings included traces of brick structures which scattered on about 5 hectares and concentrated in the precinct of Kom Pong Thmo Pagoda.
In particular, experts discovered traces of a square structure measuring 8m by 8m and 0.5-0.6m tall. It was made of bricks similar to those found at sites from the post-Oc Eo period (between the 8 th and the 12 th century).
Oc Eo has been regarded as part of the historical kingdom of Funan that flourished in the Mekong delta provinces of An Giang, Kien Giang, Dong Thap and Bac Lieu and Can Tho city, and part of Cambodia between the 1st and the 6th century.
In 2008, construction workers, while building new surrounding walls and gate for Kom Pong Thmo Pagoda, dug up more old bricks and especially an intact Yoni statue made from sandstone.-VNA
