This section presents statistics on the number of objects recovered from the excavation.
Statistics: TEMASEK PERIOD
Total Temasek period artifacts recovered: 38,386. Weight: 154.848 kg
Of these objects, some 2000 were given artifact numbers and registered in a database. The choice of which objects
Non-ceramic (Metal, Glass, Stone):
Number: 1,326 = 3.5% of all artifacts Weight: 5,671 = 3.7% of all artifacts recovered
Metal:
1305 pieces, and 5671 gms
- Iron slag & artifacts. 1,167 pieces, 5.358 kg. (3% of all artifacts by number; 3.5% of all artifacts by weight)
- Copper alloys: 106 pieces, 273 grams
- Coins: 25 intact ancient Chinese coins
- 10 Fragmentary Chinese coins
- Lead/tin: 2 pieces, 20 grams.
Glass:
15 pieces:
- Beads: two multiple wound beads; one large blue bead; one black and white barrel-shaped bead; one white bead;
- Four fragments of Chinese bangles;
- Two fragments of Indian bangles;
- Four fragments of Chinese glass bottles.
Stone:
6 pieces:
- Four carnelian beads;
- One piece of carved stone shaped like a pin;
- One carved sluice/trough.
| Category | Material | Number of Objects | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-ceramic | total | 1326 | 5.671kg - 3.7% of all artifacts |
| Metal | total | 1305 | |
| "" | Iron Slag | 1167 | |
| "" | Copper Alloys | 106 | |
| "" | Whole Chinese coins | 25 | |
| "" | Fragments of coins | 10 | |
| "" | Lead or tin | 2 | |
| Glass | Beads, bangles, bottles | 15 | |
| Stone | Beads, pin, others | 6 |
Ceramics
TOTAL NUMBER OF CERAMICS RECOVERED: 37,060 TOTAL WEIGHT OF CERAMICS RECOVERED: 149.177 kg
- Earthenware 28.216 kg
- Chinese: 120.961 kg
| Type | number recovered | total weight |
|---|---|---|
| Earthenware | 14,604 | 28.216 kg |
| Chinese (Stoneware & Porcelain) | 22,456 | 120.961 kg |
| Total | 37,060 | 149.177 kg |
EARTHENWARE (mainly locally made):
- 14,604 fragments; 28.216 kg.
- 18.9% of all artifacts by weight; 39.4% of all artifacts by number
Distribution by Square
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP1 | 11,528 sherds | 20,101 g |
| TP2 | 2,065 sherds | 4,501 g |
| TP3 | 2,011 sherds | 3,614 g |
Non-local Earthenware:
Fine Paste Ware, untempered, mainly in the form of kendis (goblets, finely-made vessels with spouts for pouring water). Previous research has shown that these artifacts were probably made in the Pa-O area of southern Thailand.1
At least 1,072 sherds of this material weighing 1,311 grams were found at SCC. This is less than 1% of the earthenware from the site. No precise figures are available for other Singapore sites, so it is impossible at this stage to determine whether this figure is typical of the Temasek period as a whole. [For further statistics, see below.]
CHINESE CERAMICS:
- 120.961 kg; 81.1% of all artifacts by weight;
- 22,456 pieces or 60.6% of all artifacts by number
Distribution of Chinese Ceramics by Type:
- Stoneware:
- Number of Sherds:
- Brittle, buff: 10,159
- Mercury 6,391
- TOTAL 16,550 pcs
- Weight by Type
- Brittle, buff: 56,617 gms
- Mercury: 30,662 gms
- TOTAL 87,279 gms or 87.279 kg
- Stoneware = 58.5% of all artifacts by weight; 49.9% by number
- Brittle, Buff: 38% of all artifacts by weight; 27.4% by number.
- 45.2% of all Chinese ceramics by number; 64.9% of all Chinese ceramics by weight; 64.9% of Chinese stoneware by weight; 61% of Chinese stoneware by number
- Mercury bottles: 35% of stoneware by weight; 38.4% by number; 28.5% of all Chinese ware by number; 17.2% of all ceramics by number; 20.6% of all ceramics by weight
- Number of Sherds:
Brittle, buff stoneware distribution by square:
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP1 | 6,596 sherds (64.9%) | 35,013 g (61.8%) |
| TP2 | 2,066 sherds (20.3%) | 12,315 g (21.8%) |
| TP3 | 1,467 sherds (14.4%) | 9,289 g (16.4%) |
Mercury ware distribution by square and spit:
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP1 | 3,978 sherds (62.2%) | 20,747 g (67.7%) |
| TP2 | 1,540 sherds | 5,756 g |
| TP3 | 873 sherds | 4,159 g |
Porcelain: 5,906 pcs; weight 33.682
- 33.6 % of all ceramics by number; 22.7% of all ceramics by weight.
- 26.3% of all Chinese ceramics by number; 27.8% of all Chinese ceramics by weight
Porcelain (colour uncertain) 117 sherds, 440 g
- 0.03% of all ceramics by number; 0.03% of all ceramics by weight
- 0.05% of all Chinese ceramics by number; 0.03% of all Chinese ceramics by weight
- 2% of all porcelain by number; 0.03% of all porcelain by weight
Distribution of porcelain of indeterminate colour by square:
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP 1 | 95 SHERDS (81.2%) | 361 g (82%) |
| TP 2 | 14 SHERDS (12%) | 34 g (7.7%) |
| TP 3 | 8 SHERDS (7.8%) | 45 g (10.3%) |
Green Porcelain: 4,930 pieces; weight 30.527 kg.
- 13.3% of all ceramics by number; 20.5% of all ceramics by weight
- 22% of all Chinese ceramics by number; 25.2% of all Chinese ceramics by weight
- 83.5% of all porcelain by number; 90.6% of all porcelain by weight
Distribution of green porcelain by square:
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP1 | 3,011 sherds (61.1%) | 17,336 g (56.8%) |
| TP2 | 1,394 sherds (28.3%) | 9,627 g (31.5%) |
| TP3 | 525 sherds (10.6%) | 3,564 g (11.7%) |
Whiteware: 859 pieces; Weight: 2,715
- 2.3% of all ceramics by number; 1.8% of all ceramics by weight
- 3.8% of all Chinese ceramics by number; 2.2% of all Chinese ceramics by weight
- 14.5% of all porcelain by number; 8% of all porcelain by weight
Distribution of white porcelain by square:
| Square | Number of sherds | weight |
|---|---|---|
| TP1 | 488 sherds (56.8%) | 1,340 g (49.4%) |
| TP2 | 238 sherds (27.7%) | 788 g (29%) |
| TP3 | 133 sherds (15.5%) | 587 g (21.6%) |
These figures do not include natural materials such as stone, bone, shell, etc., some of which have been worked by humans.
Organic Materials
Small amounts, no more than a few grams, of bone fragments and charcoal were found in almost all spits of the three pits. No large concentrations were noted in any of them, however. The largest concentration consisted of 8 conch shells weighing 267 grams in TP3 level 7. One or two fragments which may be turtle carapace were also recovered.
Statistics: 19th-20th CENTURIES
Modern/colonial period coins: 19
Notes on the distribution of artifacts
The number of artifacts recovered is surprisingly large, but the proportions of the different types are within expectations based on research at other Temasek-period sites in Singapore, as is the total weight of the items. The proportion of Chinese to locally made ceramics (60%:40%) is within the estimated range of other sites in Singapore. Preliminary tabulation of data from other sites in Singapore indicates that wares made in China outweigh those made locally by a larger proportion (80%-20%).
The proportion of stoneware to other forms of ceramics at SCC is quite high. This may indicate that the Singapore Cricket Club site was mainly devoted to industrial activities, particularly metal-working. The Chinese porcelains found are of good quality, though one category,that of Jingdezhen white wares decorated with blue designs, is almost absent. This is a significant feature of the SCC site, the meaning of which is however unclear.
Given this high total and the small size of the majority of artifacts recovered, it would have been very expensive and time-consuming to register each artifact from the site. It was necessary to select items for registration based on each item’s potential to illuminate socio-cultural and economic matters. Thus small pieces of Chinese porcelain have been registered, whereas small pieces of stoneware and earthenware, beads of glass and stone and metal items, have not been registered. A total of 4,898 items have been numbered for eventual registration (2000 objects are registered as of March 1, 2018).