Japanese archaeologists died in Vietnam

Dr. Nishimura Masanari, a Japanese archaeologist who has been involved with Vietnam for more than 20 years, recently died in a traffic accident in Vietnam last morning.

Dr. Masanari died yesterday in Hanoi after a traffic accident on Road 5, when riding a motorbike to survey new excavations.

Mr. Masanari was born in 1965, in Shimonoseki City, Japan. He is known in Vietnamese as Ly Van Sy. He began to come to Vietnam in 1990, in a joint program between Japan and Vietnam to unearth some ancient tombs in Nghia Dan, Nghe An.

Dr. Nishimura Masanari.(Photo: icis.kansai-u.ac.jp)

Over the past 20 years, he has many valuable archaeological studies in Vietnam. He discovered the only piece of bronze drum mold ever, dating back to the 1-3th century AD. This shows that copper drums are molded from Vietnam itself, not from other places.

He also contributed to the construction of Kim Lan and Duong Xa Pottery Museum in Bac Ninh. Not only that, he and his Vietnamese colleagues discovered arrow molds at Luy Lau. This proves that the arrow dating back to the An Dương Vương period was produced on the spot.

"Mr. Nishimura Masanari's departure made the Vietnamese archaeological industry stunned , " said Associate Professor Nguyen Lan Cuong, vice president of Vietnam Archeology Association.

Being a researcher with Dr. Nishimura Masanari, Associate Professor Nguyen Lan Cuong said: "Nishimura Masanari is an honest person who always helps friends. He is one of the archaeologists who has the deepest research. in this field in Vietnam ".