Welcome to the official INA Blog for the Bach Dang River Survey Project!
All of our team members appreciate you reading this blog. From now on we will be updating this blog from time to time. We will sure to let you all know when there is any breaking news!
Well, let me introduce very briefly what this blog is all about. INA has been involved with the project in Northern Vietnam in search for the lost fleet of the Mongol Empire and the reconstruction of the Naval Battle that took place more than 700 years ago.
In the 13th century, the Mongols built the world’s largest Empire – the territory stretched from China to Eastern Europe, and parts of Russia, India and Middle East. The Mongols created a strong and fierce army based on swift cavalry units. It appeared that their conquest would not stop; however, the Mongols failed at conquest beyond seas. Perhaps the most famous failure by them is the Invasions of Japan led by Khublai Khan. The invasion force of more than 4,000 ships was destroyed by a powerful storm known as Kamikaze, or divine wind. (Parts of ships destroyed by the legendary storm has been discovered at Takashima Island of western Japan. An INA project was initiated to reconstruct the vessels from timber remains – see TAMU Sasaki’s Thesis) After this failure, Khublai’s intractable desire of conquest was geared towards Southeast Asia. The Mongol invasion of Vietnam in 1288 is considered a watershed event in Vietnam History but the significance is still under appreciate by scholars in Western world. The Vietnamese led by General Tran Hung Dao destroyed the enemy fleet at the naval battle of Bach Dang River. This victory was the symbolic event that shaped the Vietnam as an independent nation.
In 2009 an international team was organized, together with INA, Maritime Archaeology Program at Flinders University, and the Institute of Archaeology at Hanoi, to conduct archaeological survey along the Bach Dang River. We are using archaeological survey techniques to reconstruct the historical battlefield.This new research reveals the deep human understanding of water system and the ways in which they used the knowledge to their benefit, even to change the course of history. Currently (as of January 2012), the team has conducted two surveys and one test excavation project at the Bach Dang River Site. The initial survey was conducted in 2009, funded by the National Geographic Magazine and Waitt Institute for Discovery. In 2010, a test excavation was conducted. The results of these surveys and excavations can be found on past INA Annuals, so please read these articles if you wish to know more!
The second intensive survey project was conducted in November 2011. The result of this survey has not been published yet, and this blog will be the first public announcement of the discovery we just made. The idea of making a blog came up during this survey conducted in late 2011. We will spend most of the blog entries from this survey – and all the other seasons from now on – but will provide some historical and archaeological background information among other topics first.
The blog should not have much technical jargons, but aimed for a general audience to know about this project and the history of Vietnam. Sit back, relax, and enjoy our future posts!
Words by Randall Sasaki