Unearthing the Past EarthCache

Singaporean history and geology meet once again on the slopes of the historic Fort Canning Hill, where the soil and its contents tell the Singapore Story from the colonial era and beyond. The key to unlocking the mysteries of the past lies in stratigraphy and here, you will learn how soil and rocks reveal what Fort Canning Hill looked like from the 14^th to the 20^th century.

Fort Canning Hill

This hill, situated in the Singapore River valley, is the cradle of Singapore and the geographical heart of its history.  The hill goes by many names: Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill), Panchor (Hill of the Water Spring), Government Hill and most recently, Fort Canning Hill. It has also been the site of many stories, both real and mythical and ranging from the tragic to the truly intriguing. From the tale of Badang, the strongman who threw a rock from here to the Singapore River, to the tense final days before the Fall of Singapore in 1942, Fort Canning Hill has played a central role in Singapore’s history through the centuries. Above them all, however, was the secrets it held beneath its soil that drastically changed our view of Singapore before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.

Prior to 1984, most historians believed Singapore (previously known also as Temasek) was nothing more than a quiet fishing village before the British arrived. In 1984, an archaeological dig headed by Dr. John Miksic on the slopes of the hill near the Keramat Sultan Iskandar Shah uncovered a huge surprise that would reshape our perspective of Singapore’s past. Pottery shards and coins from the 14^th century were found in the soil, with a mix of Chinese porcelain ceramics and earthenware of Southeast Asian origin, indicating that Singapore was already a busy trading port before the British arrived. The varied origin of the artefacts means that traders from throughout the region were once converging on Singapore. 

Dr. Miksic's excavation revealed an interesting past of this part of the hill. The area you were currently at is believed to be an artisan's work area, where foundries and potters worked. These industries required use of fire and wood, and these activities have left an indelible mark in the earth from this era. After this particularly industrious period, the activities on site ceased for a few centuries, until the Colonial era, when the hill was repurposed for military use as Fort Canning.

The question now is: how did Dr. Miksic and his team deduced the history of the site, and figured out where and when the artefacts came from? The key to the answer was how deep the artefact was found during the excavation, we know this from the study of soil layers, known as stratigraphy.

Stratigraphy

The study of soil and rock layers is known as stratigraphy, which derives its name from strata, the Latin word for “layers”. Over time, rocks and soil form different layers with different colours and characteristics. There are several reasons for this change in the characteristics. Long term effects come from change in climate or physical geography, like a lake drying up or the climate becoming increasingly warmer. Shorter term effects, like those seen here in the excavation site, come from change in land use or human disturbances. Whatever the cause may be; the change in the soil and rock layers holds an important indication of the duration and nature of these changes. More importantly for archaeology, objects found in the strata can be confidently traced back to the historical period that the stratum was formed. For instance, finding a coin in a 14^th century stratum would be a good reason to believe that the coin was buried in the soil during the 14^thcentury and not a collectors’ item lost or buried in the colonial era.

The key principle underlying the study of stratigraphy is known as the Principle of Superposition. Its statement is fairly intuitive: older strata will be deeper than younger strata, meaning that the deeper one digs into the ground, the older the progressive layers. This is based on the fairly simple reasoning that new soil tends to be deposited over older soil/rock.

Finally, the transition between strata also holds an important clue. Sharp, distinct transitions between strata indicate changes in the land use over short periods of time and that there has been little activity or disturbances during the transition. Less distinct transitions indicate a more gradual change or a sign of much disturbance to soil over a period of time.

Together, the characteristics of the soil can reveal much about the history of an area, and this information was used well by Dr. Miksic and his team in figuring out what actually happened on Fort Canning in the past and this is the object of your exploration in this Earthcache.

The Tasks

The tasks for this cache are fairly simple. The coordinates will bring you to the Archeological Site where you will need to ‘unearth’ the answers to the Earthcache. This is a tourist friendly Earthcache, so no extra research is required, as all the answers can be found in situ.

Questions to answer:

1. Describe the different strata seen at the dig site. There should be four (conveniently labelled with the numerals 1 – 4). 
2. What does the sharp and distinct boundary between the Strata 2 and 3 tell us about the land use (or lack thereof) at Fort Canning between the 14th and 19th century? 
3. What does the colour of Layer 3 tell us about the land use at Fort Canning during the period corresponding to this layer? 
4. Why were no artifacts found in Layer 4?