HANOI: Archaeological excavations at the Kinh Thien Palace site in the Thang Long Imperial Citadel have uncovered six metres of stratigraphic layers showing evidence of human activity, with the oldest layer dating back to around 1,300 years ago, providing new information about the capital’s long history.
According to Vietnam News Agency (VNA), the findings were announced on Monday (Sept 14) at a scientific seminar jointly organised by the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Centre and the Institute of Archaeology to report preliminary results of the 2026 excavation at Kinh Thien Palace.
According to Associate Professor Dr Tong Trung Tin, chairman of the Vietnam Archaeological Association and head of the project, the latest excavation was the fourth conducted at the site, which covers 910sq.m in the area of the former artillery building.
Combined with three prior excavations, the work has revealed a six-metre-deep archaeological stratigraphy containing artefacts from the Dai La period (7th-9th centuries), the Dinh-Early Le Dynasties (10th century), the Ly Dynasty (11th-12th centuries), the Tran Dynasty (13th-14th centuries), the Early Le Dynasty (15th-16th centuries), the Revival Le period (17th-18th centuries) and the Nguyen Dynasty (19th century).
Researchers said this is the deepest and most complete stratigraphic sequence of Thang Long-Hanoi’s history discovered to date.
The findings also revealed traces of Long Thien Palace, a Nguyen Dynasty structure built under Emperor Gia Long (1762-1820), corresponding with the east-west boundaries of the former French colonial artillery building.
The exposed system of column foundations and drainage channels has provided further clarification of findings from a 2025 excavation, confirming that the palace followed the Nguyen Dynasty’s distinctive architectural style in which two buildings, the front hall and main hall, were built on the same foundation and connected by an intervening roofed section.
Beneath the remains of Long Thien Palace are traces of Kinh Thien Palace, dating from the Early Le and Revival Le periods. Historical records indicate that the palace building pad was artificially constructed, with the area carefully filled and compacted with clay and construction materials before the positions of the column foundations were laid out.
The unearthed column bases comprise single and double foundations. The single foundations measure between 2.8-3.5m by 2.5-3.5m, while the double foundations measure between 5.4-6.1m by 2.7-3m.
The column bases were built on additional foundation structures, forming the largest and most technically sophisticated column foundations yet identified in the history of Vietnamese architecture.
Based on the exposed foundations, researchers have identified the east-west layout of Kinh Thien Palace as nine bays with 10 rows of columns, while its north-south layout consisted of five bays with six rows of columns. - Bernama-VNA/VNS
