MERVIN KONG HAO WEN

Sorting of artefacts from Empress place

These Artefacts were dug up next to the Empress place building in the year 2015. We were tasked to sort these artefacts into their three main groups, mainly Earthenware, Stoneware and Porcelain, whether they are decorated or not, and then specifically into their different vessel parts and into the category each ware belonged to. These artefacts that we sorted would be used by professionals at ISEAS whom would find out the sherd's (Pottery shard) origin, era which it originated from, type of glaze etc. From research as such one can determine the different trade partners with Singapore of that time and also the type of pottery the people made here and its purpose. We separately bag marked (pieces > 2 cm) and unmarked (pieces > 2 cm) pieces into clear bags that have been labelled using waterproof paper. Next archive it into a database by giving each of them a serial number, annotating all the details of the artefacts in each bag and then finally recording it all in an excel sheet. In total we recorded over 300 items.

Earthenware

Earthenware is normally fired at lower than 1200 °C , has a reddish/orange colouration and usually flakes off when scratched by a person's nail. Though it is commonly found unglazed, Europe manufactures earthenware that have glaze. Earthenware are also easily identified by their many inclusions in it, though there is a special type of earthenware that displays otherwise. It is termed as "Fine Paste", this has a very smooth texture and has little to no visible inclusions under a magnifier.

Stoneware

Stoneware is a result of high temperature firing at 1100 °C to 1300 °C in a kiln. Stoneware is dense, impermeable and hard. Differs from porcelain because it is more opaque, and normally only partially vitrified It may be vitreous or semi-vitreous. It is usually coloured grey or brownish because of impurities in the clay used for its manufacture, and is normally glazed.

Porcelain

Porcelain is fired at temperatures ranging from 1,200 °C and 1,400 °C. All porcelain have reached a vitrification stage, which means that it is completely impermeable to water. On the areas that have been broken off on the glass sherds, there is a "clean" cut. Porcelain also produces a higher pitched sound compared to the other 2 types of wares when hit on with a finger.

Fun facts!

The Carination is also most of the time confused with a neck+rim part, but a Carination is always an obtuse angle.
The lug is a part where people usually use to hold onto or hook onto to enable a more efficient way of carrying the pottery.
A base tends to not be glazed or decorated as well because potters usually found no need for it as the base was never displayed to the open public

Vessel parts

A sherd when broken would become impossible to classify if not for the terms given to each vessel part belong to a piece of pottery. Namely, the Rim, Neck, Shoulder, Lug, Carination, Body and Base. We classify a sherd under a select vessel type based on how much information that sherd can give if it is in that category. There are many cases when the rim, neck and shoulder are all intact together, and we have to wisely classify them, how we tend to do it is the amount of area that vessel part takes up on that sherd / Which vessel part on the sherd is most decorated.

The Main Project

We were tasked to complete a poster in pairs with the purpose of educating the public with something related to Archaeology in Singapore and also diving deep into our current interests in Archaeology. My group member Prithvi and I decided on doing Battlefield Archaeology because it was something both of us were interested in on day one. We looked into WW II to see the importance of battlefield Archaeology in better understanding Singapore's narrative. From our research, Adam Park so far is the only WW II that has been excavated, and the many items such as the Lenz plague that helped researchers to confirm that Adam park was used as a Prisoner of war camp, all the more helping us identify Singapore's narrative correctly. We hope that through this the general public including organisations will see the importance of Battlefield Archaeology in Singapore and raise awareness/fund other battlefield sites such as Kranji before they succumb to redevelopment. There is just so much that is underneath us, and within those things lies a puzzle piece that helps us form the bigger picture of Singapore's narrative when pieced together.

Mock excavation

We were given a 30cm by 40cm box filled with sand for us to excavate. We were given tools such as a brush, a sieve, excavation report, measuring tape. The aim of this activity was to test and apply on what we know about excavation methodologies and how we were going to apply it to here. At the start, we had to brush off the sand layer by layer and we did so systematically.We brushed the sand from the ends of the box to the centre of the box, then collecting that sand and then sieving it to find artefacts. Initially we managed to sieve out only a few unmarked ( rocks < 2 cm), but when we got 12cm deep, we started to find larger rocks that were arranged in a pattern. We used the measuring tape to see and record what depth these rocks were at and we also drew out the rocks on a sheet of paper. Digging deeper we also managed to find ceramics in the pile and several glass beads. All in all from this exercise I managed to apply what I had learned about step by step excavation, finding out that drawing out the artefacts wasn't one of my fortes, and also learnt that archaeology isn't for the light-of heart as well. This is because in real life the soil is much harder, one is combating the heat and humidity, and one usually digs deeper than 20 cm.

Content knowledge learnt

1. Firstly I learnt how to differentiate types of pottery and their vessel parts by touch and sight. Porcelain is easily picked out from the few because of their very shiny glaze and "clean cut" as I have mentioned earlier on the edges that have been broken off on the sherd. Earthenware usually has a brownish-like colour and they tend to have a black inside due to the earthenware being porous and over time the clay gets oxidised to form the black inside, earthenware is also easily scratched off. Stoneware tends to have a black overall colour, it is a lot harder than earthenware and hence is not scratched off by the hand like earthenware and has a lot more inclusions in it compared to porcelain. Celadon is a type of stoneware that I have taken into my liking due to its jade like colour, it is a type of stoneware but exhibits the shiny glaze that comes from porcelain. The Celadon colour is classically produced by firing a glaze containing a little iron oxide at a high temperature in a reducing kiln. Percentage is very important, to obtain the green jade like colour, a percentage of iron oxide between 0.75% and 2.5% has to be obtained in the glaze. The unique green celadon glaze is a result of iron oxide's transformation from ferric to ferrous iron (Fe₂O₃ → FeO) during the firing process. They originated from China, but there are many different takes on Celadon porcelain by different cultures such as Korea and Japan.

2. One of the methods used by Archaeologists to obtain a topography of a large area is LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics. They commonly use a helicopter to get an aerial view of the area, next the device will shoot out lasers, around 800 000 laser points per second, onto the ground. When an airborne laser is pointed at a targeted area on the ground, the beam of light is reflected by the surface it encounters. A sensor records this reflected light to measure a range. When laser ranges are combined with position and orientation data generated from integrated GPS and Inertial measurements unit systems, scan angles, and calibration data, the result is a dense, detail-rich group of elevation points. This allows scientists to have a more accurate representation of the area and they might also discover new things about the area that may not have been possible without LIDAR.

3. Lastly I also researched the Batavia shipwreck to find out more on the ethics of Archaeology and also about public Archaeology, which is the practice of presenting archaeological data and interpretations of that data to the public . The wreck of the Batavia involved the Netherlands, Indonesia and Australia, and they cooperated very well by forming agreements between themselves so as to allow equal access to the wreck. I learnt about how important Public Archaeology is because there is no point for Archaeology if the information amounted is not disseminated to the general public. What Australia did was to have interactive tours of the museum, having someone to explain the significance of the wreck to all ages, including the young ones. They also created an online database as well, that is accessible across the world to interested public members and to also allow international cooperation.

Insightful Things I picked up from this entire experience.

1. Firstly the one thing I learnt was how important it was to be meticulous in one's work. Being picky on every single detail is key to being an Archaeologist and doing this kind of work refines this quality of mine. When bagging the items I would always be taught to make sure that every bag is weighed properly and that every single sherd in the bag is accounted for. And we would always double check the sorted sherds with our mentors over there to make sure that everything is in the correct place. We had learn it the hard way as well result of previous groups from other schools who had not done a good job in the bagging and in the archiving part and hence we had to do it for them. I learnt that being meticulous in one's craft makes sure that firstly the document is well done and that secondly no one else needs to clean up after you.

2. Secondly I also of how important one's teammates are in a workplace. In schools not everyone works well with everyone and there are very easily disputes and sometimes it is easy or per say easier to carry on the work without them and accomplish it on time. But interning at ISEAS thus far has helped me realise the importance of your teammates. I crossed upon this revelation when we were doing the sorting of artefacts, we were a factory line sorting and archiving, losing a person would mean the complete inefficiency of the entire product line because everyone had an important role to play. Especially in the workforce when tasks get big, one needs to treasure one's resource, and one of them are the people whom we work with. This will be especially essential for me this year for I am going to undertake Project Work in JC and I am glad to have caught on this concept.

Takeaway for life

Interning at ISEAS has allowed me to interact with artefacts from the past and just getting the opportunity to touch and hold one of them to me is something of great significance. Knowing that what I did there will contribute to us better understanding Singapore's narrative better just makes this entire event all the more meaningful. This has opened up so many more opportunities for me to join them down in future excavations and this is one of the things that I look forward to. I feel that interning at ISEAS is a once in a life-time experience and it should be something for you if you are interested in History, working with people, and having all the more fun with your peers and mentors!

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