Humanities Fieldtrip - Archaeological Site at Fort Canning (27th February 2006)

This historic site is situated at Fort Canning Road. This site carries with it a history of over 700 – 800 years dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. This hill was once known as “Bukit Larangan” in Malay or literally translated as Forbidden Hill in English.

Purpose of Visit

We visited Fort Canning to learn more about the nature and kinds of archaeological work that were carried out in Singapore in line with what we studied in class.
We were very excited as we were about to visit the oldest historical site in Singapore. What better way than to find out more about archaeology from an expert Dr Roeland Stulemeijer who is the Director of the Singapore Archaeological Centre.

Activities carried out by Secondary 1B

A good part of our trip was spent in the Archeological Laboratory. We learnt about the work of an archaeologist and also the methods adopted to discover historical sites and to dig for important and precious artefacts left behind by people centuries ago.

Activities

We were brought to the Spice Garden as well as the Christian cemetery of the foreigners such as the Portuguese, Dutch and British who died whilst working in Singapore. We were very saddened to hear that many or all of the tombs had been excavated by the government of Singapore as they were developing the area as a tourist attraction.

Archaeological Museum

Dr Roeland brought us here and we were briefed about soil strata and what the labels 1,2 and 3 as seen in the picture meant. Dr Roeland is truly an archaeologist as he left no stones unturned in his explanations. He was very thorough and we found him very resourceful.

Store house of Archaeological Finds

The End of our Trip

Our trip finally came to an end. We were very tired as it was a very hot day. We find the trip educational and interesting but we had expected more hands on as we wanted to try our hands at digging.

Follow-up Activities

We could not accomplish because of a lack of time, was carried in our own classrooms.
We washed 14th century artefacts that Dr Roeland had given us.
We also worked on digging for buried treasures.

Simulated Archaeological Dig

Archaeological work is fun but a messy business. It takes a lot of effort and teamwork to dig and find the treasures. We found it an interesting and having the experience helps us to understand what the job entails.