A View of Champā Sites in Phú Yên Province, Vietnam: Toward a <em>Longue Durée</em> of Socio-Religious Context

Abstract

Champā sites in Phú Yên province, Vietnam, were in what historians have typically called the polity of ‘Kauṭhāra’. Among these, the Hồ Citadel was mentioned in recent studies of Champā citadels and Champā archaeology, but the region of ‘Kauṭhāra’ has yet to be analyzed with a vision for the Longue durée of cultural history. Drawing on the study of maps, historical documents, and archaeological evidence, we provide a more coherent understanding of Hồ Citadel in the socio-religious context of Champā, including the incorporation of Champā’s Hindu–Buddhist polities of Kauṭhāra and Vijaya into what is now Vietnam; historical evidence that suggests follow up archaeological research could fruitfully focus on the Early Modern period of history. Our findings suggest the region was one of the longest-occupied Champā regions, despite a comparative lack of focus on archaeological studies in the area versus Champā sites further northward. Future archaeological work should not only focus on the very earliest finds but rather the Longue durée of persistent settlement patterns. Thus, we hope to inspire continued and more direct collaborations between historians and archaeologists for the benefit of advancing research in the study of local and transregional understandings of Asia in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Keywords

• central Vietnam
• Champā
• Hindu–Buddhist cultures
• historical archaeology