March 14, 2000
Pre-excavation site visit. The team arrived at the site at 10:30am. The team comprises John Miksic, Goh Geok Yian, Omar Chen, Kyle Latinis, Swee Chiang, and two other persons. The team carried out pedestrian survey and collected surface sherds in Sector I, which is located on the southeast side of the Istana building.
The site plan: Northwest (NW) corner of I C1 IS 5.9m West and 4.3m South of westernmost pillar of the south portico of the Istana.
March 15, 2000
9:30am – setting up tentage for Square I B2.
The morning was overcast and hot. Members of the team present for the ceremony consisted of John Miksic (JNM), Goh Geok Yian (GGY), Omar Chen, Ratna, Wiwiq, Novida, Judith Montgomery.
March 17, 2000
Very heavy rain.
March 20, 2000
9:30am – we began work in I B2 and II B2. The team worked in II B2 only in the morning. GGY, Ratna, and Novida uncovered parts of a recent foundation. JNM worked in II B2 for parts of the afternoon.
GGY, Judith, Mr Loke, Josephine, and Jenny worked in I B2. They finished mainly Spit 1 except a few limited areas.
Cool but no rain. Mosquito fogging carried out at the site.
March 21, 2000
Morning – Ratna and Novida worked in II B2; Loke, Josephine, and Judith worked in I B2: Omar and GGY began work in IV B2.
Weatherwise, it is cool and partly sunny.
I B2 is beginning to show stratification on the North end.
The top layer; 0–8cm: dark brown, root zone.
8–10cm: thin lens of white sand.
March 22, 2000
Morning: GGY, Win Than Tun, and Judith worked in I B2.
II B2: JNM and Heather
March 23, 2000
Morning: I B2: Loke, Judith, and GGY; II B2: Ratna and Novida; IV B2: Omar
Afternoon: I B2: GGY and Han Peng; II B2: Ratna, Novida, and Judith; IV B2: Win Than Tun and Omar.
There is a feature in I B2. It is a layer of rubble and the artifacts were removed and recorded. The thickest depth is 25cm. The feature sloped downwards in the east corner of the unit. The bottom of Spit 2/3 of Feature 2 is the same black sand as the sand in the middle of the unit. The feature was excavated completely the same day.
March 26, 2000
Morning: II B2: Judith, Heather and Roger Daws, and Muslan.
I B2: GGY and Ng Ching Huei
Afternoon: I B2: Sue Hoon, Mae Tan, Ban Nee, Win Than Tun
II B2: Heather and Roger Daws, Karen and husband, Judith
Feature 3 in I B2 consists of a dark and charcoal-filled sand.
By the end of the day, beginning Spit 4 in II B, while still excavating Spit 2 in I B2.
March 27, 2000
Morning: I B2: Loke, GGY, Lin
II B2: Judith, Liesel Straub, Khalidah
Afternoon: I B2: GGY
II B2: Judith
Feature 3 in I B2 ends exactly at the bottom of Spit 3 (30cm below ground level) on the south-west side. Sand beneath Feature 3 appears to be softer in texture, but still contains rocks and corroded iron artifacts.
Feature 3 was completely excavated.
March 28, 2000
Morning (9am)
I B2: Josephine, Rosa, Loke, GGY
II B2: Novida and Ratna
I B2: Starting Spit 4 on southern end. Feature 4 on the north side remained to be worked on.
II B2: Starting Spit 5.
Feature 4 consists of brown loose sand and contains artifacts
Afternoon: I B2: GGY and Win Than Tun
II B2: Amali, Khalidah, Heather, Judith
At 3:50pm, heavy downpour; I B2 is flooded.
II B2: a white porcelain bowl (Opaque de Sanguemines) and a porcelain spoon excavated
IV D5 and IV A5 units set up for Chinese High School (CHS) students to work on
March 29, 2000
Morning: I B2: GGY
II B2: Liesel Straub, Judith, Loke, Josephine
III B10: Ratna, Novida, Heather, Lin
III B10 consists of mostly rocks and building materials
I B2 cleaned by 12 noon (it was flooded the previous day)
Afternoon: I B2: Ratna, Novida, Han Peng
II B2: Heather and Judith
In II B2, white sand appeared in Spit 6.
March 30, 2000
Morning: I B2: GGY and Win Than Tun
IV B2: Omar
II B2: Judith
Afternoon: I B2: GGY and Win Than Tun
II B2: Judith and Heather
IV B2: Omar
IV C2: Almost at the bottom of Spit 1, very mixed: mud, shoes, rubble, cloth etc
On the northeast side, there were some floor foundations. Broken tiles forming a jigsaw-like pattern.
IV D3 and IV B3: Chinese High students starting to excavate Spit 1
I B2: hit sterile in the middle of the excavation unit
II B2: sterile in parts of the unit
March 31, 2000
IV B3: CHS students
IV D3: CHS students
I B2: GGY excavating the non-sterile parts
IV: coin recovered approximately 5-10 cmbs in southeast corner in mottled clay fill deposit.
April 2, 2000
Morning: I B3 (starting Spit 1): Sue Hoon, Mae Tan, Ban Nee, Mr Tang
II B2 (Starting Spit 3): Judith, Ng Ching Huei
III B10: JNM, GGY
Afternoon: I B2 (Spit 6): Win Than Tun
II B2: Judith
II B3: Heather, Hsi Ching, Heidi
III B10: GGY, JNM
IV D3: Kyle, Martin
April 3, 2000
Morning: II B3: Ratna, Novida, Loke
II B2: Judith, Heather
I B2: GGY
I B3: Lin
Removed the round iron base and leveled off to the bottom of Spit 6.
Afternoon: II B2: Judith, Heather
April 4, 2000
Morning: Most pits were flooded and certain walls have crumbled due to rain.
II B3: Judith, Novida, Ratna
III B10: Omar
I B3: Heather
JNM excavated central portion of III with cangkul; the section mainly comprised many bricks etc. Several coins were found.
There is a line of tiles along a long pit with tiles systematically placed along the edges in II.
JNM and GGY mainly repairing eroded profile in I.
Afternoon: CHS students in IV. Omar in III. Ratna and Novida in II B3. Heather, GGY, JNM in I B2
April 5, 2000
Heavy rain in the early morning, did further damage to I B2
Morning: II B3: Judith, Jenny, Liesel
I B2: GGY continued to clean up
I B3: Loke, Heather
Afternoon: I B3: Heather, Josephine
II B3: Judith, Han Peng
I B2: GGY continued with the repairs
I B2 more or less cleaned up at the end of the day; GGY to continue the work the next day. II B3 reached Spit 3.
April 6, 2000
Morning: II B3 (Spit 4): Judith, Jenny
III B10: Omar, Ros
IV B3: Ratna, Novida
Rain stopped work.
Afternoon: III B10: Omar, Ros
II B3: Judith
Features 2 an 5 completely excavated in I B3.
April 9, 2000
Morning: I B3: GGY, Win Than Tun
II B3: Ng Ching Huei, Heidi, Hwei Lian
IV B3: Sue Hoon, Ban Nee, Mr Tang
IV B3 was not damaged by rain at all
Afternoon: II B3: Heidi, Hwei Lian
I B3: Win Than Tun, GGY
Rained heavily about 5pm
April 10, 2000
Sunny day! The rain of the previous evening did not cause too much damage in any of the units.
II B3: Jenny, Ratna, Novida
I B3: GGY
11am: rained heavily. I B2 and parts of I B3 were flooded and collapsed. II A3 was hardly damaged.
II D3: Ratna, Novida, Diane Deane
I B3: GGY
Feature 3 in I B3 was completely excavated.
April 11, 2000
Morning: rain not too heavy
I B3: Diane
IV C2: Omar
Teapot with broken handle found in round iron container/pipe in Spit 7. Bore stamp on base: “P. Regout & Maastricht Co.”
Afternoon: I B3: Heather
II B3: GGY
IV C2: Omar cleared the top rubble down to Spit 3
IV B3: Say Chong
April 12, 2000
Morning: I B3: Liesel Straub, Mr Loke
IV B3: Ratna, Novida
IV D3: GGY
IV C2: Lin
Afternoon: IV B3: Novida, Ratna
IV C2: Han Peng
IV D3: GGY
April 13, 2000
Morning: Weather looks threatening.
II B2/II B3: feature crossing the boundary line, pretty much in each area.
Designated II B2/3 Feature A. The feature contained metal, double happiness bowl, bowl with green exterior and white interior, character on exterior base.
II B2: southwest corner, another feature with iron pipe etc
II B2 Feature B
II B2 Feature C with iron gutter pipe
April 16, 2000
Morning: Rainy morning, cool weather, lots of birds making a raucous, a small crew on this Sunday morning (most people were presumably sleeping in for the day)
I B3: GGY, Ng Ching Huei, Hwei Lian
April 18, 2000
Morning: IV B3 (Spit 3): Mr Loke
Omar set up two new units: II B4 and III B9
Afternoon: cleared rubble from surfaces of the two new units. III B9 was full of rubbish and very mixed up. Only cleared portion covered by the tent. Passing shower, but not heavy.
April 20, 2000
Omar was the only one at the site. Cleared Spit 1 of II B4.
Few artifacts comprising mostly broken sherds
April 21, 2000
Good Friday. Omar and Ros.
Worked in IV C2 and B3. Excavated down to Spit 3 in the northern portion of IV C2. Excavated down to Spit 3 in the northern portion of IV B3. Found a coin.
It was a nice hot morning.
Excavated down to Spit 2 in II B4 in the southern portion.
The bricks were similar to those found in III at the same spit level.
April 22, 2000
Omar and Ros excavated IV C2 (Spit 3) and IV B3 (Spit 3)
Weather was good throughout the day.
Excavated down to Spit 2 in II B4. Major digging of rubble in the northern portion of the unit.
April 23, 2000
II B4: Ng Ching Huei, Hwei Lian
IV C2: JNM, GGY
IV C2: north portion of the unit is in Spit 4. Parts of the unit are in Spit 5. The center of unit is excavated down to the bottom of Spit 4. Southern part of the unit is about 25cm deep down to Spit 3.
April 27, 2000
Rained very heavily. Omar excavated IV C2 down to Spit 4 on the southern end. Recovered metal pieces, large and small.
April 30, 2000
Morning: Ng Ching Huei, Mr Tang, and a large number of people was helping with the washing of artifacts. Jean Martin paid a visit.
Afternoon: JNM and GGY were working in II B2 and working on the features in II B3. Removing the overburden of alluvium of past week’s rains. Reached +/- 85cm, not finished yet.
The white sand ends at about 95cm, replaced in spots by hard ferrous sand with milky quartz inclusions.
May 4, 2000
Omar excavated II B4. Cleared quite a bit of rubble in the northern side of the unit. Dug down to Spit 4. Recovered a bayonet (probably WWII on account of its length) near the rubble in Spit 2. Found interesting sherds of pottery and a VOC coin.
May 6, 2000
Morning: Omar in charge.
IV C2: Ng Ching Huei and Mr Tang excavating Spit 4
II B4: Linda excavating Spit 3
IV B3: Kelvin Ang
A Tengku came over during the late morning to talk about the treasures hidden in the complex, such as kris, coins etc in return for some cash. Omar did not respond. No more new groups joined.
May 11, 2000
Morning: Omar
Late morning: Josephine and Mr Loke
II B4: Omar
IV C2: Josephine
Omar had lunch with Mr Loke at Kaliorcay. Ex-President Ong Teng Cheong was there with friends.
May 14, 2000
Morning: II B4: Ros and Omar excavating Spit 5, hit white sand on the south side
IV B3: Kelvin excavating Spit 4
IV C2: Ching Huei, Ina and friend excavating Spit 5/6
Afternoon: IV C2: Ching Huei found lots of metallic pieces probably from utensils (kitchen?) and bones in the south corner. Excavating down to Spit 6. Potsherds in the soil. Still dark brown and relatively hard.
IV B3: Kelvin excavating Spit 4. Hard ground to dig.
III B10: Omar cleared the north section of the unit closest to the Istana walls with a cangkul. Thereafter Ros excavated systematically the black soil.
II B9: Omar and Ros had a hard time trying to clear the South section closest to the Istana as it was full of big chunks of rock and bricks. Omar decided to dig close to the “column” section of the Istana wall where the soil was much easier to excavate. It was black soil.
Ching Huei informed Omar of a 1824 map of the area. Ching Huei thought that the gatepost he found overgrown by the Banyan tree on the road was part of the “old gate post” at the Istana. But a further check revealed another gatepost, which was also overgrown in the big Banyan tree. There was probably a gateway connected to the an old plot perpendicular to the Istana and adjacent to the Gedong Kuning. Faizal and Lucy showed up at 3pm and began the washing of the artifacts.
May 18, 2000
IV C2: Ching Huei
May 21, 2000
Ching Huei, Kelvin and friend, and Mr Tang
May 25, 2000
Omar excavated II B4 Spit 6, and discovered numerous quantities of sherds.
He proceeded to dig in IV D3 at the south end. There was a dense distribution of sherds.
May 27, 2000
II B4: Omar excavated the unti down to the top of Spit 7, which was filled with potsherds. Kelvin went over to assist him later.
IV C2 and IV D3: Ching Huei and friend were excavating Spit 7 in C2 and the southern portion of D3.
Got 1 cartridge and 1 live round (probably WWII) from security guard who found these at the banana tree clump.
Friends of Kelvin arrived later. “Tengku” showed up again to talk about deal. Let one check two coins: 1 Dutch (1786) and 1 with a Rooster emblem (12??) Hijrab
Omar excavated III B9 and III B10. He was digging in B9 and found lots of stones and other artifacts. Kelvin excavated the northern portion of B10.
June 1, 2000
Omar and Ms Langsdorf. Ms Langsdorf worked in II B4 while Omar began to excavate II B5. Ms Langsdorf leveled off the spit meticulously in II B4 in which there was pristine layer of white beach sand, which is sterile. Too much rubble in the top layer of II B5. Omar used the cangkul to excavate the layer.
Ina came with Mr Ridzwan. Ina went off to get two young volunteers who were two Secondary 3 students. Omar arranged for the two students to try their hand at digging the rubble in II B5 before they shifted to III B10. III B10 contains two visible features which look like postholes.
The “Tengku” came again to show the coins he found: mix of Chinese, Straits Settlement, VOC 1786, Borneo, British etc. He again talked of a deal. Ina was present with Omar.
“Tengku” came back with two of his nephews.
Ching Huei worked at III C2 where he excavated down to Spit 9. Two policemen from the Central Police Stations came over to the site and had a look at Unit II. One spoke of volunteering but was hesitant due to his work commitments.
June 4, 2000
IV C2: Mr Tang
IV D3: Way and friend
II B5: Omar clearing the rubble
June 8, 2000
III B9: Omar managed to get ½ of the top layer of rubble and rubbish cleared off the northern portion of the unit near the wall. He later worked down to Spit 4 at the wall.
III B10: Ms Langsdorf excavated down to Spit 7. Mixture of white beach sand and dark soil. Few artifacts but there were two features. She excavated the northern portion after the pipes were revealed.
IV C2: Ching Huei and his nephew excavated down to Spit 9. There was a deep pit in the unit.
IV D3: Way and friend found a Maastricht base.
June 11, 2000
Rainy day.
III B9: Omar still clearing rubble.
III B10: Ros excavated down to Spit 4. Southern portion leveled down and well done.
IV C2: Ching Huei excavated Spits 8, 9, and 10. He recovered an intact teapot of probable Chinese origin. There are dense accumulations of artifacts in this excavation unit.
June 15, 2000
III B10: Ms Langsdorf excavated down to Spit 6 which comprises mostly white sand.
III B9: Omar clearing rubble.
IV C2: Ching Huei excavated down to Spit 11.
June 18, 2000
Ching Huei did washing of artifacts
III B9 and III B10: Omar and Ros
III B9 is full of rubble whereas III B10 has mainly white sand
III C3 and III D3: Omar and Ros. Omar cleared rubble in III C3 while Ros excavated Spit 2 in III D3
JNM, GGY, and Mr Loke did photography of artifacts. Ching Huei and Kelvin washed artifacts.
June 22, 2000
IV D3: Ros excavated the north portion of the unit.
IV C3: Omar and Ching Huei cleared rubble following which Ching Huei continued to work on the north portion of the unit while Omar cleared the north section of IV B3.
Heather and Ms Langsdorf washed artifacts.
Afternoon: IV B3: Ros excavated Spit 3 in the north side of the unit. Ms Langsdorf excavated Spit 4 of the south side of IV C3. IV C3: Ching Huei excavated Spit 4 of the north side of the unit. Omar started a new unit: IV B2 and excavated Spit 1 on the north side. He also dug in III B10 at the gate post. He got down to the white sand layer at the mangrove section.
June 25, 2000
Ching Huei washed artifacts as Omar began a new unit at IV D2. GGY dropped by and helped with the removal of buckets of dirt. She excavated IV B2 Spit 1. Ching Huei excavated Spit 4 of IV C3.
JNM did photography. Omar excavated III B9 and IV D2. Josephine assisted GGY in excavating IV B2. JNM and Ching Huei excavated III B9. Omar excavated Spit 2 of the south section of II D2. JNM worked with Omar to start a test excavation unit: V.
Ching Huei and Mr Tang excavated IV C3 and recovered two cracked earthenware jars. JNM identified these as uri pots (placenta holders). A third pot was recovered from Spit 2 in IV D3. JNM took photos of these.
June 29, 2000
Ching Huei did the washing of artifacts first before proceeding to excavate Spit 4 of III C3. Omar excavated Spit 2 of the southern section of III D2. Ms Langsdorf cleared rubble from Spit 2 of IV B2. Heather excavated the northern section of Spit 4 of IV B3. Ching Huei tried to glue the two uri pots recovered from IV C3, but to no avail.
Ching Huei and Omar excavated V and recovered lots of large round stones (the size of melons) in northern portion of the unit. Excavated down to Spit 2.
They decided to widen the unit on the north and east ends. The large round stones continued to be revealed and were placed in a “L” shaped pattern.
They found an earthenware pot at around X in the diagram. They considered it similar to the ones recovered from IV C3. There were also lots of broken sherds near the pot. There were also rusty metal pots. Soil is black. The pair removed a couple of the stones at the start of their dig.
July 2, 2000
Morning: V: Ching Huei washed artifacts before working with Omar to open up Square V. Omar was quite annoyed that items from this square were removed and placed on bin at “HQ”. Yosli said that it was Ghours but he had his doubts. He suspected that Yosli moved the items. GGY help Omar and Ching Huei with the opening up of Square V.
IV B2 (Spit 3): Ros
IV D2 (Spit 4): Mr Tang
II C3: Ching Huei’s friend
Afternoon: JNM, GGY, Ching Huei and Leonard set up Square V, 2x5m. Omar joined later.
JNM took photos. GGY, Omar, Ching Huei and Leonard continued working in Square V.
It was a hot day.
IV B3: Josephine excavated Spit 3 in the north portion of the unit.
July 6, 2000
V: Omar excavating Spit 3
IV C3: Ching Huei was excavating Spit 4. He found probable remains of a pot. Omar spoke to the security guard Ghours and he confirmed (without prompting) that the pots were used for burying after birth in the northern portion of the unit.
IV B2: Leonard was excavating Spit 3 in the southern portion of the unit.
IV D2: Monica Bligh, an archaeology student, excavated Spit 3. She was tasked to level off the southern portion of the unit.
IV C3: Ms Langsdorf excavated Spit 4 of the southern half of the unit.
July 9, 2000
V (Spit 4): GGY and Win Than Tun.
IV C3: David excavated Spit 5 of the northern portion of the unit.
IV B3: Monica
IV C3: Ching Huei and friend excavated the southern section of the unit
V: Omar, GGY, Win Than Tun
Opened up a square towards IV.
Ching Huei assisted Omar in the excavation of the unit.
JNM was taking photos and discussing Win Than Tun’s dissertation with him.
July 13, 2000
V A: Omar excavated down to Spit 5. He then proceeded to open up V B; he cleared grass and Spit 1 which was full of rubble. Monica assisted using pickaxe and cangkul.
IV C3: Ms Langsdorf excavated Spit 7 of the northern portion of IV C3 which was filled with sherds.
IV D2: Monica excavated Spit 4 of the southern portion of the unit.
IV B2: Dorothy excavated Spit 3 of the northern portion of the unit.
July 16, 2000
V A: Omar cleared rubble in the unit. Cleared the surrounding area towards the wall removing grass and dirt for opening up future squares.
V A: Ros was excavating Spit 6 of the northern portion of V A. The excavation revealed more large round stones in the northern portion. These formed part of the same stone foundation.
IV B2: Ching Huei hacked away to clear Spit 5 of the unit.
Most parts of IV C3 and IV B3 are showing white sand.
IV C3: Mr Tang found an iron crucible
IV B3: Chek Hong
V B: GGY excavated Spit 2 in western side from south to north 30cm portion.
IV B2: JNM excavating southern portion.
July 20, 2000
IV C3 (Spit 5/6), IV D3 (Spit 4/5), IV B2 (Spit 3): Ching Huei
IV C3 (Spit 5/6): Ms Langsdorf
IV C3 (Spit 5): Monica
Ngoh Kian Co with 10 men removed the tents from Squares II to V
July 23, 2000
IV B2/ IV D3: Ching Huei
IV B2 (Spit 3): Mr Tang
IV B2 (Spit 6): Chek Hong
IV (Spit 5/6): Ang Yik Han
V B: GGY
IV B2 (Spit 3): Monica
IV B2 (Spit 3): Jenny
July 27, 2000
IV B2 (Spit 6-9) and IV D3: Ching Huei
IV B2 (Spit 3-5): Ms Langsdorf
V B: Jenny and friend
Gim Lay and Michelle from SHM dropped by to get snapshots
July 30, 2000
IV D3/ IV C3: Ching Huei
IV B2: Ang
IV B2: Kelvin
V B: GGY and JNM
Angelina and friend from ACM visited.
August 3, 2000
IV D3 (Spit 9/10): Ching Huei excavating northern section of the unit. Lots of artifacts. Cluster of uri pots (photos taken). Reaching sterile in most areas.
IV B2: Ms Langsdorf excavating Spit 7. Derek excavating Spit 5.
V B: Omar carried out work at the northern section of the unit. Opened up V C to see how far the structure goes.
August 6, 2000
III B9 (Spit 3): David and Zuraidah excavated the northern side of the unit.
IV B2: Chek Hong excavating Spit 4, Kevin excavating Spit 4. Found an intact bowl though it was cracked. Saved for photography.
IV C3: Ching Huei, Mr Tang, David and Zuraidah excavating Spit 8. Lots of artifacts in pockets of dark soil.
V C: Omar excavating more of the structure. Few artifacts.
Event organized by Heidi Tan and Danny Tan from the ACM brought two batches of kids with younger ones who were 6-7 years and older ones who were 11-12 years old. The kids came in the morning and afternoon. There were parents accompanying the kids. The kids were very keen. The first batch “excavated” tubs of soil with hidden artifacts. The second batch of older kids dug at the waste pile beside Square V. The event was more exciting for the second batch as they were able to retrieve surface finds and washed these.
August 10, 2000
Omar opened up more units at V.
Ching Huei washed artifacts and excavated IV.
August 13, 2000
V: Omar and Ros excavated V. Omar opened units to the East and West of the square.
August 17, 2000
Ching Huei and Derek washed artifacts
Omar excavated western extension of V A.
August 20, 2000
V B: Omar dug down to the sterile layer at the southeast portion of the unit to reveal a pit full of artifacts. Did this about ¾ of the time. Recovered a teapot.
V B (i): Ros recovered a few coins.
IV: Ang and company excavated the southern end of the unit.
Ching Huei and the rest of the crew washed artifacts.
V A (i): Omar dug in the southern section to recover more artifacts which were found in a metal basin buried under an uri uri pot
August 23, 2000
Omar and Ros arrived early in the morning to prepare artifacts for press conference
Ina, Yati, and Ching Huei arrived.
JNM arrived a little after 11am for the press meeting with Punda (Berita Harian), Daud (TCS Suria), Azhran (Straits Times). All interviews done by noon to 1pm.
August 24, 2000
All the tents were removed. Omar worked in Square V. Ching Huei washed artifacts.
August 27, 2000
Nine volunteers and four visitors (Kelvin’s friends). They worked in new squares D4 and C4, and the other half of “rubbish pit” from D3 and C3 and excavated down to Spit 5 (1x0.5m). Ang and Mr Tang recovered two bags of artifacts including an intact ceramic bottle and bowl.
August 31, 2000
Ching Huei washed artifacts.
Omar continued to expand Square V westwards. Recovered more artifacts. Last day to excavate Square V advised by JNM.
September 3, 2000
Ching Huei, Chek Hong, Kelvins and two archaeologists from Ching Huei’s shipwreck project washed artifacts in the morning.
Omar excavated test pits. Test pit 1: excavated on Saturday (September 2) by Fatimah, Azlina and Lia. Not many artifacts. Near Square IV; hit sterile in Spit 6.
Test pit 2: at the base of a Mango tree closest to the east wall. Looked like a dump with numerous artifacts.
Test pit 3: next to TP1 and between TP1 and Square V. Red ants’ nest. Excavated down to Spit 6.
Test pit 4: located next to Square V. Recovered an earthenware pot (possibly an uri pot) which is similar to those found at squares IV and V. The earthenware was almost intact. Other types of artifacts. They excavated down to Spit 6 and sterile.
September 7, 2000
Omar did a preliminary catalog of the artifacts.
Zainal Abidin parked his car in the compound before proceeding to meet some grass roots leaders.
Omar excavated Test Pit 5 on the east wall near corner to the north wall and on the northeast side of the Istana. Excavated down to Spit 8.
Recovered porcelain sherds and fragment of pestle-like artifact which bore a hole at its base which was intentionally formed. He excavated Spits 3-5.
2nd test pit (Test Pit 6) approximately between the Istana building and Square IV. There were no artifacts. The pit measured 1x1m. He excavated down to Spit 10 where the sterile layer was revealed.
September 9, 2000
Ros washed artifacts as Omar started two more test pits.
Test Pit 7 (1x1m): at the southwest wall of IKG, 7th pillar from the toilet. He excavated down to Spit 8 where the sterile layer was spotted. There were few artifacts. A PVC pipeline ran parallel to the wall. First noted in Spit 3.
Test Pit 8: located 4m from TP7 in the direction of Square I (1x1m). No artifacts. Hit sterile layer at Spit 6.
September 10, 2000
Ching Huei and some volunteers washed artifacts.
September 11, 2000
Fogging of mosquitoes undertaken in the compound. Omar started Test Pit 9 which was located 4m to the west of TP 8. He excavated down to Spit 3.
Started Test Pit 10 at the northwest wall.
September 13, 2000
Omar catalogued some of the artifacts.
Started Test Pit 11 near the security guard post. Excavated down to Spit 4 where he hit sterile soil.
September 14, 2000
Omar catalogued some artifacts.
September 15, 2000
Omar made preparations for the filming by “Take 5”, which was supposed to take place in the Taman Warisan’s archive. Ina and Khalid came to inform Omar that the filming had been cancelled.
September 16, 2000
Ros washed artifacts while Omar conducted checks on the spits in the squares.
September 21, 2000
Last day of the excavation. Omar prepared the artifacts for the filming by “Take 5”. The filming was to take place in Square V.
Michelle from Singapore History Museum (SHM) arrived with vehicle to move the artifacts and stones. “Take 5” filmed the procedure of research. The artifacts were taken to SHM and the equipment to Fort Canning Centre.