Thousands of curious people were present in the fields of Phu My village (Ngoc My commune, Quoc Oai, Hanoi) to watch the excavation of the newly discovered ancient tomb.

Is the person lying in the grave a noble woman?

The excavation of an ancient tomb dating back approximately 300 years was conducted on the afternoon of December 10, directly conducted by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong.

The ancient tomb was excavated on the afternoon of December 10, causing thousands of curious people to give up work to come see.

Thousands of local people quit their jobs to see it out of curiosity.

The ancient tomb was discovered on the afternoon of December 7 when a group of workers operated an excavator to build roads and irrigation. This group of workers touched three coffins, two of which were made of normal wood, another coffin was buried in a coffin outside the sarcophagus, smelling of essential oils.

Suspecting that this was an ancient tomb, these workers informed the local authorities.

The tomb was discovered in a field area called Ba Chua field. The coffin is nearly 2 meters long; about 60cm wide, covered by three layers: the outer layer is wood; The glue layer in the middle, the innermost layer is a type of wood that emits the scent of essential oils.

The tomb is believed to date from the 17th century, from the Later Le Dynasty.

The burial method, the characteristics of the tomb… have many special things.

When this coffin was discovered and brought outdoors, every day thousands of people from all over came to see it curiously. Many people believe that the person lying in the coffin is a person with authority, belonging to the aristocracy, and may have a lot of gold, silver, and jewels buried with the deceased…

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong carries out excavation operations of ancient tombs.

Secretary of Phu My village, Mr. Doan Van Loi informed: We have reported to the People’s Committee of Ngoc My commune and the Department of Culture and Sports of Quoc Oai district.

On December 8, officials from the district culture department went to the scene to check and verify, then reported to the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

On the afternoon of December 10, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong and research staff excavated the ancient tomb. Thousands of people heard the news and came to watch.

It was quite difficult for the excavation team to open the coffin’s upper panel. The middle layer of glue when peeled off has a strange scent.

The person buried in the grave was carefully wrapped in a layer of cloth. Strangely, the body was still intact, teeth and hair were still intact…

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong said: This is an ancient tomb for a woman’s burial, made of a compound. Hundreds of tombs like this have been discovered in Vietnam. This compound was made by ancient people in the style of inside and outside coffins, usually in the Later Le period, in the North it is dated about 300 years, in the South it is dated in the Nguyen dynasty about 200 years. Normally, other graves often have pillows around them. But in this grave, people used silver paper to stuff it.

The special thing about the tomb is that there is no solution in the coffin. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong commented: the outer layer of the sarcophagus is made of rice mixed with lime mortar and honey. The principle of making this tomb is to make the sarcophagus first, then place the coffin.

After placing the coffin in, they will apply plaster to the gap to seal it. Finally make the plate above. Only when the sarcophagus is destroyed can the coffin be found. Other ancient tombs often use horizontal nails to secure the coffin, but in this tomb they use pegs on both sides. This is the body of an old woman, her teeth stained black, with broken teeth above.

Many families received the Patriarch’s grave

After discovering the tomb, many families in Ngoc My commune spoke up saying that it was the tomb of their family’s ancestors. In particular, the descendants of the Doan family in the commune set up tents and tarpaulins in the middle of the field, close to the coffin to look after it because they believed that this was the grave of their family’s great-grandfather.

The person lying in the grave was a woman, her body still intact, her hair…

Mr. Doan Manh Ha, Head of the Doan family, 15th generation, said: In the afternoon before digging up the grave, when passing by I told the excavator drivers to stop digging in this area, there were my family’s graves down there. our family.

“I said that in the early afternoon, they dug into the grave in the evening. After that, I went back to ask Mr. Doan Thi Chuyen (94 years old) and Do Thi Chum, who are the two oldest people in the family. They all confirmed that It’s the family grave.

The elders said that in that field there were two long graves and one short grave, so the excavator dug it up exactly like that. Our family took two graves for burial, but the ancient tomb was kept by the government.

Associate Professor Nguyen Lan Cuong provided information to answer the curiosity of thousands of onlookers.

Last night, I invited the elders to my house for a meeting. They brought out their genealogies and read them again. They found out that from the 3rd to 6th generations, there were many people who worked as mandarins in the Le Dynasty.”

The head of the Doan family also affirmed that the above information coincides with the assessment of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism that this tomb dates back to the Le Dynasty, around the 17th century. The Doan family believes that it is their family’s grave because the location of the grave was found on the land of their ancestors in the past.

Secretary of Ngoc My village, Mr. Doan Van Loi, said: on December 9, some people from other villages also came to claim it as their family’s grave.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong explained: If local families recognize this as their family’s ancient tomb, we will create conditions for the family to take hair samples for DNA testing to know exactly.

“In the tomb there is a Sanskrit book, with religious expressions, but no artifacts buried with it. This is not a poor person, it must be a rich person to have burial conditions like this. Tombs like this are usually of Buddhists” – Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong commented.