An excavation team of the Da Nang-based Museum of Cham Sculpture and the Hanoi-based University of Social Sciences and Humanities has conducted an excavation on 1,000 m2 of land at Qua Giang 2 Village for nearly a month.

Archaeologists have found many vestiges of Cham people at this site, including the foundation of three towers under the ground of Mr. Nguyen Doi and Mr. Le Quoc Lap’s homes. They have also collected many ancient bricks and valuable objects.

Mr. Nguyen Doi, 54, said when his parents were alive, they usually told him that there are many ancient statues beneath their land and if Doi built a new house, he must be careful not to harm the artifacts.

Five years ago, Doi discovered many statues and a large stone pier. He transferred the artifacts to the Cham Museum in Da Nang for research. Recently, he dug up land and found a large stone slab with stairs.

In addition to the two excavation sites on Doi’s land, archaeologists dug one more hole on the land of Mr. Lap, Doi’s neighbor, and they discovered an ancient brick foundation about half a meter underground.

Archaeological work was carried out very meticulously. Experts used shovels to dig the upper layer of soil but when touching the ancient brick foundation, they must use trowels to remove soil from the bricks.

The ancient bricks with carvings of the ancient Champa people are carefully cleaned. Mr. Nguyen Chieu, archeological lecturer at the Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, says the carved bricks were built with other bricks. It means that the ancient Champa people used the bricks of a broken old tower to build new ones on this area.

"This is evidence to help determine the age of the towers. The building materials of these towers came from the collapsed tower in the tenth century," said Mr. Chieu. Many artifacts can be put together to show nearly complete towers.

The sandstone-made statues and artifacts are put separately on Mr. Lap’s land.

This is the head of Siva, with the "3rd eye" on his forehead. Mr. Chieu said the Cham people believe that when the eye is open, it has the power of destruction.

Archaeologists said that the unearthed artifacts are similar to the traces of Cham people in the Khuong My archaeological site in Nui Thanh district and Dong Duong site in Thang Binh district in the central province of Quang Nam.

According to experts, this land was the home to a community of ancient Cham people. The excavation will stop next week because it is now the rainy season, and there is also a lack of funding.

This is the base of a big stone pillar.