Vietnam mummy mystery

The secrets behind mummies found in Vietnam are being explained in a new book by Nguyen Lan Cuong. Cuong talked about his research in this area over the past 30 years.

Ass. Prof. Nguyen Lan Cuong (middle) and the mummy of Buddhist monk Vu Khac Minh at the Dau Pagoda, Ha Tay.

 

Among the types of embalmment in Vietnam, what is most interesting to you and international paleoanthropologists?

 

There are two types of mummies in Vietnam. The first are mummies embalmed in inner and outer coffins and the second are mummies in the form of statues.

 

The most impressive type are the statue mummies because China also has mummies embalmed in coffins, even dating back 2,000 years ago. In Vietnam they are dated back to the Le Dynasty, around over 300 years only.

 

The statue mummies in Vietnam are also 300 years old but they are unique because they were embalmed using Vietnamese techniques. The dead bodies were embalmed using Vietnamese paint, Vietnamese cloth and soil.

 

It is a unique technique that helps maintain the dead and is only seen in this part of the world

 

The 200-page “Secrets behind mummies of bonzes’ is among the most well-researched book about paleoanthropology in Vietnam. The author used folk stories that have been told for hundreds of years. The book also includes more than 200 photos of the mummies of bonzes, the excavation and preservation process of mummies in dozens of year.

I took foreign visitors to admire the mummies of Vu Khac Minh and Vu Khac Truong at the Dau Pagoda. Both said they had never seen anything like it anywhere else.

 

Do Vietnamese scientists have methods to preserve these statue mummies?

 

Open to the environment, these mummies are harmed through oxidation. To preserve the mummies, we make glass boxes which we seal and blow nitrogen inside through a valve. We change the nitrogen every 2-3 years.

 

Besides statue mummies, could you talk about the process of excavation, research and maintenance of the mummy of King Le Du Tong?

 

The tomb of King Le Du Tong was unveiled in a hill named Rung Cam (Forbidden Forest) in Bai Trach village, Xuan Giang commune, Tho Xuan district, in the central province of Thanh Hoa in May 1958. But until April 1964, the tomb was excavated and the mummy was brought to Hanoi for research. This is a coffin mummy. The dead body is around 1.49m in height. The lower abdomen was a little swollen. When researchers pressed on the lower abdomen they felt gas and water inside.

 

Researchers still wonder about embalming techniques applied to King Le Du Tong and other mummies. The biggest question is how to prevent air. Mummies always look like drowned corpses at first but only five minutes after the coffins are opened, they turn pale.  

 

Do you have any way to preserve coffin mummies that you have excavated?

 

No, not at all. So we decide to put mummies into new coffins and bury them immediately whenever we find a mummy. If we had funds, we would go to China to learn their mummy preservation techniques. In Vietnam, we only excavate mummies for research and then bury them again.