A decorated artifact found at the kiln at the Pu Luon Xe relic site in the northern province of Yen Bai. (Source: VNA)Yen Bai (VNA) – An archeologicalexcavation at the relic site Pu Luon Xe in hamlet 7, Tan Linh commune, Luc Yendistrict in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai led to the discoveryof a kiln making building materials said to belong to the Tran Dynasty.
The information was released on December 20 at ameeting on the initial results of the excavation, which began on October 27, 2016,held by the Research Centre for Imperial Citadel (RCIC) underthe Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Yen Bai Province Museum.
The kiln was used to produce various architecturalmaterials from bricks, tiles, to baked statues and types of ready-made towersused for architectural works in the relic sites the Hac Y hill and the Ben Lanpagoda, which are national relic sites in Luc Yen district recognised in 2001.
Building materials and products of the kiln are alldated back to the 13th-14th century in the time of the Tran Dynasty.
Associate Prof. Dr. Bui Minh Tri, director of the RCIC, said this is the first time a building material kiln in the TranDynasty has been excavated in the northern region.
The discovery and excavation of the kiln will providematerials for a new direction for the research work on the production ofarchitectural materials in the Tran Dynasty.
The result of the excavation will contribute toeducating local people on managing, preserving, and promoting the values of therelic site.
In 2011, the Yen Bai Province Museum collaborated withthe Vietnam Institute of Archeology carried out surveys at the Pu Luon Xe relicsite.
After digging 11 survey holes in the area at the baseof a hill, signs of a row of bricks and an old brick wall were detected. By 2015,the museum and the RCIC continued surveying the relic site and discovered manypieces of bricks, tiles, and decorated patterns.-VNA
