Archaeology in Singapore
Encyclopedia
Archaeology in Singapore is a niche discipline. Although there is a lack of government support for archeological work, many artifact
s have been unearthed at sites around the island. These finds have helped to give a clearer picture of Singapore
's history, both before and after Stamford Raffles
' landing in 1819.
in Yogyakarta
, Indonesia
) at Fort Canning
. Since then, places where site surveys have been carried out include:
There have been site excavations in these areas:
s from the Yuan Dynasty
period, India
n glass beads, Chinese porcelain
ware and copper
coins.
Although Fort Tanjong Katong, whose construction started only in 1879, was much newer than Fort Canning, a number of artifacts have also been unearthed there. 36 bags of marine ecofact and coral
samples were collected from the site and have been sent to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity at the National University of Singapore
(NUS) for analysis. Significant parts of the fort, which was demolished after World War I
, were also found in situ
.
There were so many artifacts uncovered at the Padang that both the work period and the size of the test pit were lengthened. The artifacts include indigenous earthenware, Chinese trade ceramics, and coins from the Tang
, Song
and Jin Dynasties.
Investigations in the south-east corner of Istana Kampong Glam indicate that a structure may have predated the existing Istana, which was built around 1842. This would support written accounts that have described a wooden structure that Sultan Hussein and his family lived in as early as 1830. The earliest dated artifacts unearthed are Dutch East India Company
and mid-Qing coins. Other artifacts recovered are mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries and include Malay
earthenware, Europe
an transfer print ceramic, Japan
ese ceramic ware, and various species of marine gastropods and bivalves.
Excavations at St. Andrew's Cathedral have revealed artifacts dating from the 14th century to the 20th century, which suggest that the 14th-century settlement in Singapore extended well beyond the Singapore River
.
, with a population one-tenth that of Singapore's, hires them…. Singapore has chosen to be different in this area, which is a very strange phenomenon."
As there is no official support of archaeological work, there is no centralised storage space for excavated artifacts. Even those unearthed many years ago languish in the homes, storerooms or offices of excavation participants. For example, the artifacts from the Fort Tanjong Katong dig are currently housed in Mountbatten Community Club.
In addition, there is no legislation requiring that archaeologists be consulted before construction works proceed, unlike in European countries.
Other means of promoting archaeology have included public talks, collaborative research between archaeologists and the National Parks Board, and encouraging community involvement in site surveys and excavations. The excavations at Fort Tanjong Katong and St. Andrew's Cathedral saw enthusiastic participation from members of the public, and there was dismay when the Fort Tanjong Katong excavation pits were filled in at the start of 2006, ostensibly to prevent mosquito
es from breeding.
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s have been unearthed at sites around the island. These finds have helped to give a clearer picture of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
's history, both before and after Stamford Raffles
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is often described as the "Father of Singapore"...
' landing in 1819.
Sites
The first site excavation was carried out in 1984 by John N Miksic (then with Gadjah Mada UniversityGadjah Mada University
The Gadjah Mada University is the largest and the oldest national university in Indonesia . founded on December 19, 1949; although the first lecture was given on 13 March 1946. The name was taken from the name of Majapahit's Prime Minister, Gajah Mada.UGM is located in Yogyakarta, Daerah Istimewa...
in Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) at Fort Canning
Fort Canning
Fort Canning is a small hill slightly more than 60 metres high in the southeast portion of the island city-state of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Singapore's central business district...
. Since then, places where site surveys have been carried out include:
- Former Drama CentreDrama CentreDrama Centre London is a British drama school in King's Cross, London, where it recently relocated after a major reshaping of the university. The school is part of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London and is a member of the Conference of Drama...
- National Museum of SingaporeNational Museum of SingaporeThe National Museum of Singapore is a national museum in Singapore and the oldest museum in Singapore. Its history dates back to 1849 when it was started as a section of a library at Singapore Institution...
- PunggolPunggolPunggol, or Ponggol, is a neighbourhood in northeastern Singapore. Presently, much of Punggol is undeveloped, although plans to turn the area into a residential new town under the "Punggol 21" initiative have begun to take place in the south-eastern parts of the area bordering neighbouring...
- Saint John's IslandSaint John's IslandSaint John's Island, previously known as Pulau Sakijang Bendera, is one of the Southern Islands in Singapore. It is located approximately 6.5 km to the south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore....
- Singapore Management UniversitySingapore Management UniversityThe Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
campus
There have been site excavations in these areas:
- Fort CanningFort CanningFort Canning is a small hill slightly more than 60 metres high in the southeast portion of the island city-state of Singapore, within the Central Area that forms Singapore's central business district...
- Fort Tanjong KatongFort Tanjong KatongFort Tanjong Katong, which stood from 1879 to 1901, was one of the oldest military forts built by the former British colonial government of Singapore. The fort gave its name to today's Fort Road, and it used to stand on the grounds of the present Katong Park...
- PadangPadang, SingaporeThe Padang is an open field located within the Downtown Core of the Central Area in Singapore, at the heart of Singapore's central business district. It was formerly known as the Padang Cricket Ground...
- Istana Kampong GlamIstana Kampong GlamIstana Kampong Glam , also Istana Kampong Gelam, is a former Malay palace in Singapore. It is located near Masjid Sultan in Kampong Glam...
- St. Andrew's CathedralSt. Andrew's Cathedral, SingaporeSaint Andrew's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Singapore, the country's largest cathedral. It is located near City Hall MRT Interchange in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. It is the Cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore and...
- Colombo Court
- Duxton HillDuxton HillDuxton Hill is a small hill, as well as the name of a road, located in Tanjong Pagar within the Outram Planning Area of Singapore....
- Empress PlaceEmpress Place BuildingThe Empress Place Building is a historic building in Singapore, located on the north bank of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district. The building is currently the second wing of the Asian Civilisations Museum...
- Old Parliament HouseOld Parliament House, SingaporeThe Old Parliament House, now known as the Arts House at the Old Parliament, is a building in Singapore. It is currently a multi-disciplinary arts venue which plays host to art exhibitions and concerts. The building was formerly home to the Parliament of Singapore from 1965 to 1999, when it moved...
- Parliament HouseParliament House, SingaporeThe Parliament House of Singapore is a public building and cultural landmark and houses the Parliament of Singapore. It is located in the Civic District of the Downtown Core within Singapore's central business district . Within its vicinity is Raffles Place, which lies across it from the Singapore...
Major finds
At Fort Canning, many artifacts dating back to the 14th century have been uncovered, including ceramicCeramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
s from the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
period, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n glass beads, Chinese porcelain
Chinese porcelain
Chinese ceramic ware shows a continuous development since the pre-dynastic periods, and is one of the most significant forms of Chinese art. China is richly endowed with the raw materials needed for making ceramics. The first types of ceramics were made during the Palaeolithic era...
ware and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
coins.
Although Fort Tanjong Katong, whose construction started only in 1879, was much newer than Fort Canning, a number of artifacts have also been unearthed there. 36 bags of marine ecofact and coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
samples were collected from the site and have been sent to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity at the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
(NUS) for analysis. Significant parts of the fort, which was demolished after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, were also found in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
.
There were so many artifacts uncovered at the Padang that both the work period and the size of the test pit were lengthened. The artifacts include indigenous earthenware, Chinese trade ceramics, and coins from the Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, Song
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
and Jin Dynasties.
Investigations in the south-east corner of Istana Kampong Glam indicate that a structure may have predated the existing Istana, which was built around 1842. This would support written accounts that have described a wooden structure that Sultan Hussein and his family lived in as early as 1830. The earliest dated artifacts unearthed are Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
and mid-Qing coins. Other artifacts recovered are mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries and include Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
earthenware, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an transfer print ceramic, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese ceramic ware, and various species of marine gastropods and bivalves.
Excavations at St. Andrew's Cathedral have revealed artifacts dating from the 14th century to the 20th century, which suggest that the 14th-century settlement in Singapore extended well beyond the Singapore River
Singapore River
The Singapore River is a river in Singapore with great historical importance. The Singapore River flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean...
.
Problems
In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Miksic, now an Associate Professor in the Southeast Asian Studies Program and the Asia Research Institute at NUS, lamented that "Singapore is probably the only country in the world that does not employ state archaeologists. Even the government of BruneiBrunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
, with a population one-tenth that of Singapore's, hires them…. Singapore has chosen to be different in this area, which is a very strange phenomenon."
As there is no official support of archaeological work, there is no centralised storage space for excavated artifacts. Even those unearthed many years ago languish in the homes, storerooms or offices of excavation participants. For example, the artifacts from the Fort Tanjong Katong dig are currently housed in Mountbatten Community Club.
In addition, there is no legislation requiring that archaeologists be consulted before construction works proceed, unlike in European countries.
Promotion of archaeology
Despite the abovementioned problems, there is still interest in Singapore's history before 1819. NUS has organised a course, "History of Singapore before the Landing of Raffles" annually since 1998, which attracts 250 to 500 interested students each time.Other means of promoting archaeology have included public talks, collaborative research between archaeologists and the National Parks Board, and encouraging community involvement in site surveys and excavations. The excavations at Fort Tanjong Katong and St. Andrew's Cathedral saw enthusiastic participation from members of the public, and there was dismay when the Fort Tanjong Katong excavation pits were filled in at the start of 2006, ostensibly to prevent mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es from breeding.