Portrayals of Prehistoric Tràng An

Funding is requested so that research outcomes from an existing project (SUNDASIA) can be translated into forms of public engagement within the Tràng An Landscape Complex World Heritage property, Vietnam. The activities proposed will make key contributions to a 5-year (2020-25) cultural heritage programme that is being prepared by the Tràng An Management Board in response to specific requests from the World Heritage Committee in 2018 regarding archaeological heritage management and heritage promotion (Decision: 42 COM 7B.62-https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/7291).

The principal evaluator of this property's archaeological record has been the AHRC/GCRF - Xuan Truong Construction Enterprise co-funded SUNDASIA Project (2016-20), led by the Applicant. This research has been investigating the impact of past environmental change on early human occupation of the Tràng An landscape, and the insights that can bring to dealing with modern human-induced climate change challenges and UN Sustainability Goals.

The first stage of the Tràng An cultural heritage programme involves redeveloping what has been a hugely popular film set attraction into an innovative exhibition space that showcases the Outstanding Universal Values of the property. Site inspection by a joint UK and Tràng An Management Board team (led by the Applicant) took place in late 2019. Following further consultation, the overall design concept for the exhibition is planned to incorporate and complement the dramatic forested tower karst peaks that surround the location (an island). Against that backdrop research findings from SUNDASIA will help bring to life Tràng An's deep archaeological record and natural history - the criteria of the property's mixed inscription on the World Heritage List.

The island exhibition will comprise two deliverable elements. Outside, situated predominantly along the water's edge, will be a series of 15 life-size bronze (for durability and ease of maintenance) figures of human and animals. These will depict prehistoric scenes in an inter-connected hunter-gather narrative. The placement of these vignettes will ensure visibility from the property's many tourist boats and will include animals that faithfully represent the property's rich past biodiversity. Basic information about what is being portrayed will be relayed to visitors by the boat-rowers, thus introducing an element of personalised narrative and investing local staff with an active role in conveying the property's heritage.
Visitors will have the opportunity to disembark and enter the second element of the exhibition: a walk through a small low-profile building in the middle of the island. This will sit unobtrusively in the landscape and offer an informative and sensory experience of the past. The proposed design will have a cave-like character inside while retaining direct natural light and views of the sky and surrounding landscape through a glass ceiling. The display space within will contain multiple elements that showcase the findings of the SUNDASIA project. These will include a cave diorama depicting prehistoric activities around a hearth and a centre-piece facial reconstruction of a 12,000 year old inhabitant of Tràng An. Information panels, video displays and printed matter will convey details in accessible non-academic language, explaining the prehistoric story of the property's cultural heritage, past and future environmental changes affecting this landscape, and associated changes in the state of its biodiversity.

AHRC Follow-On Funding is specifically requested to contribute towards the training of local staff in cultural heritage management, documenting of the exhibition's development, and presenting SUNDASIA outcomes to the visiting public through visual, discursive and printed media.