A dig was carried out at the Fort Canning Archaeological Dig Site between 2 September and 4 November 2019 to excavate the areas which would be affected by renovation works slated to be conducted by NParks at the site in preparation for the Bicentennial activities and events NParks had planned for 2019. The archaeological dig site was one among several areas on Fort Canning Hill that underwent revamp work: a new and expanded structure was constructed for an outdoor exhibition site which includes multi-media displays. Post-renovaion, the site is called Artisan’s Garden and forms one of multiple sites located in Fort Canning Park marking the locations of 14th-century Singapore’s main features.
The archaeological team comprised Goh Geok Yian and John Miksic as co-leads assisted by Goh’s student Research Assistants (RAs). They were PhD student Alasdair Chi, and undergraduate students Caroline Ang, Muhammad Hafiz, Gavin Goh, Ng Yunxuan, Inna Haziqah, Tham Ki Yee, and Sxuann Sim. The RAs assisted the co-leads in working with volunteers who registered an interest to take part in the dig. The participants included a total of 50 students from Goh’s HH1007 The Making of Civilizations class from Nanyang Technological University Singapore, secondary school students and teachers from Sembawang Secondary School and Hwa Chong Institution, teachers from Clementi Town Secondary School, and members of the public.
The excavations took place over a period of ten weeks, mainly on Sundays and Mondays, except 23 ad 24 September 2018. Two test pits, one in the northeast corner and the second in the southeast corner of the site (see Plan of Fort Canning 2018 Excavation), were identified and excavated, but these did not yield any artefacts except modern roof tiles and construction materials. These two areas were identified based on the specifications provided by NParks, which indicated that the boardwalk for the new structure would be constructed on top of these areas. With the testpit having yielded no artefacts, the team was able to move the operations to the two main areas which would form part of the exhibition area. The excavations were limited to two main areas within the site: the northwest and southwest sections (see Plan of Fort Canning 2018 Excavation: units XIV, XV, 27, and 28 in the northwest section and units IX and 29 in the southwest part). The constraint in terms of space meant that a maximum of 16 persons were allowed to work at the site at any one time: eight persons per work area.
