In Binh Thuan, from ancient times to the present, the discovery of gold is not a rare thing, often occurring in ancient temples or villages, cemeteries of the ancient Cham people. There are many stories of accidentally digging up gold and stories of spending a lot of money, sometimes even their lives, but getting nothing. The story below is a true story, the writer of this article witnessed and saw with his own eyes... the burial pit hiding a golden statue of a god in village 1, Hong Liem commune in 2002.
From scrap detector
About 20 years ago, many people in the localities bought metal detectors to search for war scrap everywhere, especially on sand dunes and sand slopes. At that time, the Provincial Museum also surveyed and excavated a number of archaeological sites on sand dunes and sand slopes from Phan Thiet to Hong Liem, Bau Theu, Bau Trang, Hoa Phu... Such surveys often encountered many people with cameras and hoes using metal detectors to search for scrap, looking from afar like sappers on duty. Everyone looked covered to protect their faces from the hot sun and dust on the sand dunes at noon and in the afternoon.
Each person has a fairly modern detector: The body of the machine is attached to the middle and above the round base like a pot lid; the headset and the machine are connected by an electric wire. Through the headset, the detector can recognize and analyze the types of signals received. When receiving a signal, they dig, search, and take out from the ground a few pieces of iron, aluminum, or copper. Working tirelessly day after day, they search and sell scrap as a job when they have free time from farming.
Also working as a war scrap collector, during a search along the sandbank in Bau Theu area, Mr. Nguyen Van Bup, residing in Ham Nhon commune, discovered a bronze statue of Amitabha Buddha, a lamp stand, an incense burner, and a lion. Another person discovered 7 bronze Buddha statues in Ham Chinh commune, Ham Thuan Bac district. The district police handed them over to the provincial museum.
In many places at different times, when searching for scrap, people accidentally found ancient labor tools, such as axes, hoes, swords, bronze jewelry such as bracelets, earrings... that were buried by ancient residents in jar tombs in burial areas belonging to the Sa Huynh culture more than 2,500 years ago. The money from selling a few taels of bronze is not much, but those who search for scrap have unintentionally helped those who destroyed many important archaeological sites. Archaeologists cried out when they saw many tombs being dug up, with jar tombs breaking into hundreds of pieces just because of a few copper rings.
Lord Shiva was also detected by the detector.
Working in archaeology, my colleagues and I often sought information from people who worked in the fields, set traps for thunderstorms, and even metal detectors. We heard that some people found gold earrings, bracelets, and sometimes bronze and porcelain antiques buried in a bronze basin... they thought it was a "bargain" for gold and quickly sold it, not daring to keep it in the house. Such stories were often kept secret, and by the time we heard about them, it was long past.
Scrap metal detectorists boast that high-quality metal detectors can detect metals at great depths, quickly and accurately. Objects buried at great depths are still discovered. That is the case of a gold goddess statue, gold rings, and precious stones buried in a ceramic jar that was discovered by a metal detector in 2002 on a sand hill in Hamlet 1, Hong Liem Commune. We tell the story below according to the history kept at the Provincial Museum, dated December 26, 2002.
At 2:00 p.m. on February 4, 2002 (November 1, Nham Ngo year), two men living in Luong Nam village, Luong Son commune, Bac Binh district brought a metal detector to Nguyen Thanh Thuong's farm in village 1, Hong Liem commune. Both men carried the detector back and forth many times in the middle of the farm. Suddenly, they heard the detector signal that there was metal, so both men used the hoes they brought to dig, but the ground was hard and the object was at an unusual depth. At this time, one man guarded the scene, the other went to where Nguyen Thanh Thuong and his wife were working in the field nearby and borrowed a long-handled hoe to dig. After digging about 1.5 meters, they discovered a ceramic jar (the discoverer called it a ceramic jar) with a copper lid that had a thick and rotten coating on it, indicating that the object had been buried inside for a long time. Eager to see the lid and the ceramic jar full of sand, a man named Ty reached inside to dig out the sand, then took out a golden statue head over 20 cm tall, hollow inside, and 4 golden rings. They only had time to quickly wipe it with the shirt they were wearing to check the thing they had just dug up. When they were sure it was real gold, they quickly left, not having time to fill in the hole and return it to the owner of the field.
Witnessing from the beginning, after the two people holding the statue and 4 gold rings left, they left the jar and a rotten copper lid. Mr. Thuong took out all the sand inside the jar and found a 3-eyed gold ring with a stone. Later, when asking some Cham people, they learned that it was a Muta ring, a typical jewelry of their ancestors. So, including the ring Mr. Thuong picked up from the jar, there were 5 rings in total.
The discovery of the golden statue by two scrap collectors in Mr. Thuong's farm was kept secret and no one knew. Even Mr. Thuong and his wife did not mention it. It was not until December 26, 2002 that the information reached the Provincial Museum, provided by a local resident. The Department of Culture and Information contacted the Provincial Police (Cultural and Ideological Security Protection Department PA25) and sent an officer to the place where the golden statue was discovered that same afternoon.
We left our motorbike at a local’s house and walked for more than 30 minutes to get to Mr. Thuong’s farm. Luckily, we met him and his wife at the farm. Seeing the police there, he guessed that something was going on. He led us to the deep hole where the metal detectors had discovered the gold statue nearly a month ago. It was a deep hole, with hard, light pink sandy soil… and Mr. Thuong and his wife told the story as described above.
Talking about the statue, he said it was a gold statue because when it was brought up, it was all gold, it was a female statue with 4 rings of the same gold color. I asked him how he knew it was a female statue, he said because he saw long hair on her head, with a few small curls, and a bun at the back. Working with Mr. Thuong and his wife for quite a while to hear more about searching for metal around here. He said it was not the first time those two people searched, many people had searched before but did not discover it, either because of their machines or because they were not up to par... It was late afternoon, the couple gave the museum a 35cm high ceramic jar, with several broken pieces of the copper lid. As for the Mưta ring, we made a receipt and bought it back.
Speaking of the story after digging up the gold statue, two people from Luong Nam and Luong Son secretly took it to Phan Thiet to find a gold shop to test and sell it. No one knows which gold shop they sold it to and how much they got, whether the gold statue was kept or melted down, no one knows. Much later, some local people told us more: Both people who found the gold statue bought a Chinese Dream motorbike and renovated their house.
Although he did not see the head of the golden statue with his own eyes, through the detailed description of Mr. Thuong and his wife, such as the details on the head, estimated measurements, color... and comparing with the golden statue discovered in Quang Nam in 1997 and a golden statue discovered in Phan Thiet in the early 20th century (currently at the Vietnam History Museum), they are both statues of the god Shiva. Through the description of the shape and measurements of the two golden statues above, they are almost the same as the newly discovered statue in Hong Liem. Both golden statues above are national treasures. At that time, the Scientific Council of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism predicted: The statue discovered in Hong Liem is a golden statue of the god Shiva, dating from the 10th century. It is a pity that if the golden statue discovered in Hong Liem had been recovered in time, Binh Thuan would certainly have had another national treasure.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/phat-hien-tuong-vang-co-champa-128234.html
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