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DIGGING INTO
SINGAPORE’S HISTORY
When one talks about the history of Singapore, the immediate thought is often that of
Sir Stamford Raffles arriving in Singapore.
But despite his name as the Founding Father of the country, he did not arrive on an
empty or uncivilised land. Many forget that
prior to Sir Stamford’s arrival in 1819, Singapore was already part of a complex sea
trade network that linked millions of people around the region. What even fewer are
aware of is that its inhabitants were fairly
well to do, and lived peacefully under a system of their own.
This little-known image of ancient Singapore
has been revived by NUS Associate Professor
in the Department of South East Asian Studies,
John N. Miksic. John and his team have dug into
Singapore soil and have uncovered physical
evidence of this life, which he describes in his
new book Singapore and the Silk Road of the
Sea 1300 -1800. The book is a co-publication by
The National Museum of Singapore and the National University of Singapore Press, and is the
end product of 25 tedious years of archaeological digging and analysis. We spoke to John to
find out more about his book, and the process
he underwent to reconstruct a history few Singaporeans are aware of.
Singapore in 1300 – 1800
In their dig, John and his team found a range
of artefacts that confirmed ancient Singapore’s
connections with regional countries such as
China, India, Java, Thailand, Vietnam and even
Sri Lanka. For example, they found sherds of
top quality Ming Dynasty Porcelain, presumably
from bowls or vases, that were exported from
China to Singapore. According to him, (Singapore’s inhabitants) were not just a poor unsophisticated people. They had very developed taste in
terms of aesthetics. Even the normal population
in China did not have access to such high quality
things. People here were very rich on an internaWeekendin 114
Dr John N. Miksic Author of Singapore & The Slik Road of the Sea 1300-1800
tional scale because of the forest products, the
gold, the silver, the elephant ivory, turtle shell and
things like that. This is just one of a plethora of
findings that create a picture of a well-organised and prosperous ancient Singapore. In his
book, John writes that Singapore had defences
against invasion, money was a fixture of everyday
life, craftspeople specialised in various occupations, the government and the people whom a
foreign observer characterised as “honest”, and a
multi-ethnic and multinational population living
peacefully under the rule of a local chief.“
The Process
Perhaps the most respectable component of
this project is its scale. It took more than 1000
volunteers and more than 20 excavations at
12 sites, culminating in a total of 25 years of research for John to write the book’s 491 pages.
Volunteers included school children who were
steered away from their history textbooks and
towards shovels and spades so that they could
witness and uncover history for themselves.
Other volunteers included National Servicemen and members of the Friends of the Museum
group.
When asked how long it took for a single artifact
to be found, John stated that the average person will find an artefact in a minute. We only had
to dig about a metre, or a metre and a half deep
—the site is that rich! The entire town area is actually sitting on top of an archaeological gold mine,
because all the old buildings like the museum have
very shallow foundations. Underneath them, the
ancient sites are being protected. The sites excavated are iconic and popular even today, and
include Fort Canning, Chinatown, The Padang
(Singapore Cricket Club), Old Parliament House,
St. Andrew’s Cathedral and Istana Kampong
Glam.
John describes the excavations as the fun part
and said that the little ones were not just good
at it, but also enjoyed it completely. According to him, They can really concentrate, and their
eyesight is very good so they can see tiny objects.
We looked for 2mm beads and the little kids loved
looking for that. But excavating the artefacts was
the easy part. John said the biggest challenge
was the cleaning, categorising and storing of
the plethora of findings. Some of the uncovered items are now on display at the Museum’s
Singapore History Gallery, but the majority still
remain at his lab in NUS.
About Professor John N. Miksic
John himself has a remarkable resume of experiences and digs. He first came to South East
Asia as part of the Peace Corps in 1968-1970,
and has gone to Honduras, Bengkulu and many
other regional areas for archaeological digs.
His interest in the field sparked off as a young
boy growing up in a farm in upstate New York,
previously an Iroquois Indian Area, where he
used to find lots of Indian stone tools. He says,
we found lots of Indian Arrow Heads, it was a really good hunting area. So my father, grandfather
and I used to speculate what it would be like to live
in the same place but a thousand years ago. How
familiar would it seem, and how different would it
have been?
This curiosity soon led to him becoming a
known and respected archaeologist in South
East Asia due to his 40 years of experience and
work in the region. It is safe to say that he has
placed himself in Singapore’s history by contributing to the country’s narrative. As stated by
John, I’ve been consulted on the new history textbook, to show that the pre-1800s was not a blank.
That there was life before Raffles. We want to get
young kids to realise that Singapore has a long history and its own identity that does not depend on
colonialism. So you don’t need to look to Europeans all the time.
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