The document summarizes 7 artifacts from Singapore's history: 1) A 14th century gold armlet found at Fort Canning Hill in 1928 of Javanese style. 2) A 15th century lead statue of a headless horseman found at Empress Place in the 1990s, the only ancient lead statue found in Southeast Asia. 3) 14th century Indian glass beads and Yuan dynasty coins found at Fort Canning Hill in 1984, providing evidence of ancient Temasek's trade networks. 4) Samples of 14th century spices - cloves and nutmeg - from the Spice Islands. 5) A poster about the Belitung shipwreck, an 830 AD Arabian d

1. Chapter specific Artifacts
1) Replica of Javanese style gold armlet found at Fort Canning Hill in 1928.
Date of origin: 14th
Century
Place of origin: Fort Canning Hill or Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill), Singapore
Date of Excavation: 1928
14th Century, Singapore
Armlet length: 24.6cm
Rings diameter: 1.95cm
Majapahit Javanese style solid gold ornaments excavated at Fort Canning Hill in 1928
while excavating for a reservoir.
The site engineer recorded that the ornaments were lying just beneath the top of the
pre-colonial soil strata, indicating their existence before the British arrived in 1819
http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/Page.aspx?id=45
2) Replica of lead Javanese style statue
Date of origin: 15th
Century
Place of origin: Empress Place

2. Date of excavation:
14th
Century Singapore
Javanese style small statue found at Empress Place archaeological site in 1990s.
Dubbed the “Headless Horseman” by Dr. John Miksic, the rider is wearing what
appears to be a sarong around his lower body and sits on either a winged horse
or a horse with a winged saddle. Analysis revealed it is made of lead, which
makes it the only ancient lead statue ever found in the whole of Southeast Asia.
Various theories have been put forward for the purpose of this statue, including a
depiction of an ancestor of the rulers of Temasek who in the Sejarah Melayu
(The Malay Annals) emerged from the ocean on a winged sea-horse
http://www.worldoftemasek.com/index.php/article/archaeology
3) Replica of Indian glass beads and Yuan Dynasty coins found at Fort Canning Hill
in 1984
Date of origin: 14th
Century
Place of Origin: Fort Canning Hill, Singapore
Date of Excavation: 1984

3. 14th Century, Singapore

4. Indian glass beads excavated at Fort Canning Hill in 1984. Among other itmes found
were hundreds of Chinese copper coins dating back to the Song dynasty, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Thai ceramics, carnelian beads from India, copper and iron remains
from the forges of local metal smiths and a carved stone human head. This
archaeological evidence helps us piece together the story of the ancient kingdom of
Temasek.
http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/Page.aspx?id=45
4) Spices of the 14th
Century – Cloves and nutmags
Place of origin: The Spice Islands, Cloves Maluku Islands
5) The Beilutung Wreck Poster
Date of origin: 830 AD
Place of origin: Muscat, Oman
Date of Excavation : 1998

5. The earliest shipwreck found in Southeast Asia was an Arabian dhow which
sailed a route from Africa to China around 830 AD but sank off the coast of
Belitung Island, Indonesia and it is housed in the Maritime Experiential Museum
and Aquarium on Sentosa
60,000 Tang dynasty artifacts worth $32 million were found. It was largest single
collection of Tang Dynasty artifacts every found in a single place.
The Jewel of Muscat, a replica of the Belitung shipwreck was built using
traditional construction methods without the use of nails and pegs and then sailed
to Singapore using traditional navigation methods to be displayed at the Maritime
Experiential Museum and Aquarium on Sentosa.
http://app.mfa.gov.sg/data/2006/upload/images/2421020100531113958.jpg
6) Letters of Raffles to Farquhar
Date of origin: 1823
Place of origin: Singapore

6. (Sample)
Note: Transcriptions of text to be included on reverse side in similar stylized format
National Archives of Singapore
Description: Raffles: Letters to Singapore (Farquhar) - L19
Period: May - Dec 1823
Language: English
Microfilm Number: NL 59

7. 7) Map of Singapore and the Straits of Malacca
Date of origin: 1755
Place of origin: Paris
http://www.swaen.com/antique-map-of.php?id=5138
Published by BELLIN,J.N. in Paris, 1755 and and titled “Carte Réduite duite des
Detroits de Malaca, Sincapour, et du gouverneur” this map was one of the first maps of
the Straits of Malacca. It was coloured and measures.
55.3 x 89.5 cm.
It featured the Malay Peninsula from north of Selangor to Pulau Tioman with adjacent
coast of Sumatra and the islands southwards to the Riau-Lingga Archipelago complete
with lLatitude and longitude scales. It also had recommended tracks through the straits.
Inset with number of small coast views.
The outline for Singapore is very distorted, an unusual pair of islands being shown in the
old Straits to the north of present-day Singapore Island. Coastal profiles fill the upper
centre of the chart.

8. Singapore National Archives
Accession Number HC009739