Major archaeological dig underway at Empress Place

Dig into past uncovers 700-year-old artefacts
Excavations at Empress Place unearth 400kg of relics of ancient inhabitants
By Melody Zaccheus, The Straits Times, 14 Feb 2015

THE old shoreline of Temasek, stretching from Empress Place to Beach Road, is a treasure trove of 700-year-old artefacts once owned by ancient inhabitants of the island we now know as Singapore.

An archaeological dig - the largest since such excavations started in the 1980s - is now under way at Empress Place.

Among the things uncovered so far: A headless porcelain Buddhist figurine, red-orange coloured carnelian beads from India and a broken celadon bowl with a double-fish motif.

They form part of a 400kg haul dug up by archaeologists from the archaeology unit of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) since the dig started on Feb 2.

These finds are significant, said lead archaeologist Lim Chen Sian, as they help paint a more detailed picture of the Temasek period (1300s to 1600s), of which there are no text records.

"If we find more Buddhist figurines, we may be able to suggest that Buddhism could possibly be one of the religions practised in ancient Singapura," said Mr Lim, 40.

The media was given a preview of the excavation in front of Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall yesterday. Costing $70,000, the operation spans 1,000 sq m, or roughly the size of 10 four-room HDB flats.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority, which is developing an integrated arts, culture and lifestyle precinct there, gave project organiser, the National Heritage Board (NHB), the nod to conduct the dig before works to pedestrianise the area start later this year.

The area around Empress Place is historically and archaeologically significant, said NHB's group director of policy, Mr Alvin Tan.

For one thing, it is located near the once-thriving port along the Singapore River. It is also ensconced near other historic sites such as Fort Canning and Parliament House - all of which have thrown up archaeological gems.

Mr Tan believes the project can help "strengthen Singaporeans' understanding of the country's pre-colonial past".

Other highlights unearthed include a broken clay figurine in the shape of a bird, Song and Yuan dynasty Chinese coins, and the base of a flower vase or spittoon.

The four-man-strong archaeological team also found a colonial sewage pipe which used to discharge into the Singapore River.

A preliminary report of the discoveries will be provided to NHB after the project ends on April 9.

Mr Lim said it could take years thereafter to clean, sort, catalogue and analyse the finds. He expects the site to produce about three tonnes of artefacts. The state owns these items as they were found on state land.

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, who visited the site yesterday, said he is encouraged by the growing interest in Singapore's history and heritage.

"This (dig) is timely as we celebrate our golden jubilee, and crucial as we continue in our journey as a nation," he said.

Post by National Heritage Board.

Archaeology, history and the museumThe recent archaeological excavation project at Empress Place delved into 14th...
Posted by National Heritage Board on Wednesday, April 15, 2015

* Dig shines new light on ancient Singapore
Artefacts suggest existence of a govt with ruler in 14th century Temasek
By Melody Zaccheus, The Straits Times, 17 Apr 2015

ANCIENT Singapore - or Temasek as it was then - could have had an established government with a head ruler or chieftain as early as the late 14th century.

The first evidence of this was unearthed in a 10-week-long archaeological dig, the biggest ever here, that wrapped up on Sunday at Empress Place.

A team led by archaeologist Lim Chen Sian discovered Chinese imperial-grade ceramics produced between 1375 and 1425 which were bestowed by the Ming Dynasty emperor Hongwu on overseas leaders.

The ceramics, which include a large porcelain platter, are part of a 2.5 tonne haul from an excavation organised by the National Heritage Board (NHB) in partnership with the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

The NHB's group director of policy, Mr Alvin Tan, said the board is "very happy with the results".

"We hit the archaeological jackpot in terms of quality and quantity at this site," he said.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority had given the NHB the nod to conduct the dig, alongside works to develop an integrated arts, culture and lifestyle precinct there for Singapore's jubilee year.

Other artefacts uncovered since digging started on Feb 2 include 700-year-old timber planks that could have been part of a ship. They are the first physical evidence of maritime activity in the Temasek period (the 14th century to 17th century), according to Mr Lim. "The timber was likely part of a structure of an ancient ship and the workmanship is typical of the South-east Asian style of ship building," he said.

Other highlights include thousands of 700-year-old Chinese coins, stoneware used to store condiments, porcelain pieces fired up in the Yuan Dynasty, a gold ring, a rare gold coin from the 16th- to 17th-century Johor Sultanate and Buddhist figurines across the site.

Mr Lim believes the range of artefacts found at the Empress Place dig site, near the Singapore River, suggests that the area could have been home to a bazaar or marketplace.

Due to the large volume of artefacts, and the complexity of the dig, the team was also given a month's extension to continue working on three zones in front of Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall. This came after officials were persuaded that the site was a treasure trove of ancient artefacts, said Mr Lim.

The 1,000 sq m site - the size of about 10 four-room HDB flats - had been divided into a total of 13 excavation zones.

NHB said that work on seven of the site's excavation zones has been completed. The Iseas team of archaeologists managed to cover about 70 per cent of the remaining six zones.

A team of five Iseas staff, 10 volunteers and a handful of foreign workers worked on the project - sometimes in the rain and until close to midnight - to complete the project, which was budgeted at about $70,000.

The archaeological team will spend the next two to three years cleaning, sorting and analysing the artefacts. The NHB will decide thereafter if they will be put into the National Collection and displayed in museums, or at exhibitions.

Racing against time to salvage old Singapore
Archaeological team at Empress Place finds 700-year-old artefacts on 2-month deadline
By Melody Zaccheus, The Sunday Times, 10 May 2015

When archaeology volunteer Margaret Wong pulled large ceramic pieces from the soil at an Empress Place excavation site near the Singapore River, she knew by their weight and smooth texture that they were centuries-old jade green fragments of high quality.

But the enormity of her find sunk in only after Chinese porcelain expert Tai Yew Seng, who had been digging nearby, recognised the fragments as imperial-grade ceramics produced between 1368 and 1398.

The pieces, which formed a 34cm diameter platter, turned out to be one of the most significant artefacts unearthed from the two-month dig that wrapped up last month.

It was carried out by members of the archaeology unit of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas) and volunteers, who shared their experiences with The Sunday Times.

Recalled Ms Wong: "Even though the platter was covered in dirt, I could see that it was valuable and still in relatively good shape.

"I felt a thrill digging up an artefact that had lasted 700 years."

Such ceramics were bestowed by China's Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty only on overseas leaders from countries such as Siam (Thailand) and Champa (Vietnam), according to Dr Tai, a professor at the Nanyang Technological University's Confucius Institute.

This led the team to believe that ancient Singapore, or Temasek as it was known, could have had an established government with a head ruler or chieftain as early as the late 14th century.

Another platter of a similar design dating back to 1381 lies in Syria.

The dig unearthed three tonnes of artefacts - the largest archaeological haul in Singapore in 31 years.

Within the first few days, a team of five Iseas staff and 10 volunteers dug up 150kg worth of artefacts from a 5m by 5m plot.

In comparison, just 303kg of artefacts were dug out from a plot six times larger at the National Art Gallery in 2010.

The Empress Place site is significant because it was where the ancient shoreline once ran.

For decades, Iseas had earmarked it as a potential excavation site.

Archaeologists saw the opportunity to excavate there when they learnt of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) plans to develop the place into an integrated arts, culture and lifestyle precinct for Singapore's 50th birthday.

Their wish was granted with the help of the National Heritage Board (NHB) after a trial dig to prove the site's richness.

But time was not on their side. Excavators loomed across the 1,000 sq m site - the size of about 10 four-room HDB flats.

Head archaeologist Lim Chen Sian said: "We've never worked on such a tight site and tight schedule. Sixty-tonne machines were moving in slowly and blowtorches were close by. We dug desperately."

Working 13-hour days, seven days a week, some of them barely clocked four hours of sleep.

At one point, as the deadline to return three of the 13 excavation zones loomed, a call for more volunteers was issued. Dozens showed up.

Iseas research officer Aaron Kao, 36, said the sense of urgency was palpable as the team rushed to salvage 700 years of history before it got destroyed. "We felt that we owed it to future generations of Singaporeans," he said.

Volunteer Natalie Khoo, 22, an anthropology and history graduate from the School of the Arts Singapore, said that while some of the work got monotonous, it was "extremely meaningful".

Due to the large volume of artefacts and the complexity of the dig, the team was given a month's extension to continue working on the three zones.

Officials gave the go-ahead after an Iseas report stated that the site was a treasure trove of ancient artefacts.

Still, the team rushed up to the 11th hour. On the last day of the dig, they scrambled to retrieve two timber structures, each measuring about 1m by 1m.

The wood had likely been part of an ancient ship, as its workmanship was typical of the South-east Asian style of shipbuilding. It was the first physical evidence of maritime activity in Temasek.

But a thunderstorm interrupted their excavation for three hours and as night fell, construction workers from the URA's upgrading project set up floodlights for them to retrieve the timber planks.

After the site closed, the core team spent the next three weeks cleaning the artefacts with toothbrushes and water.

At a press briefing last month, NHB said that work on seven of the site's excavation zones has been completed.

The board said the team managed to cover about 70 per cent of the remaining six zones.

Next up for the researchers is to clean, sort and analyse their finds in what is expected to be a three-year task.

So far, 120 large storage containers have been filled with more than a million artefacts and fragments.

They will also be producing a map of the ancient site, which was likely to have been a bazaar.

Sending soil samples for tests could also help pinpoint where sanitation lines ran, for instance. Botanical remains such as shells, seeds and bones could provide an idea of the paleoenvironment of ancient Singapore as well.

NHB, which referred to the excavation as "hitting the archaeological jackpot", will decide if the artefacts will be put into the National Collection and displayed in museums, or at exhibitions.

Items show island was highly stratified
By Melody Zaccheus, The Sunday Times, 10 May 2015

Among the treasures found at Empress Place were thousands of 700-year-old Chinese coins, stoneware used to store condiments, and porcelain pieces from the Yuan Dynasty.

The team also found a gold ring, a rare gold coin from the 16th- or 17th-century Johor Sultanate and Buddhist figurines.

They were buried in the Temasek (1300s to 1600s) layer about 1.2m to 1.7m underground, below the modern, colonial and transitional layers, and above a layer of pristine white sand.

Head archaeologist Lim Chen Sian said that the excavation's "phenomenal" artefacts help paint a more detailed picture of what Singapore was like 700 years ago.

Apart from the imperial-grade ceramic platter that the team unearthed - which points to how Temasek was likely to have had an established government as early as the late 14th century - the variety of objects pulled out from the site indicates a highly stratified society with diverse groups, including those who were affluent.

The volume also suggests that the area could have been home to a bazaar or marketplace - renouncing the idea that Temasek was a sleepy fishing village.

The finds also lead to other questions, according to Mr Lim: "How did ancient Singaporeans get hold of these largely decorative and ornamental imports?

"Was the place at the height of fashion or had these products trickled down from bigger kingdoms?"