The work of archaeology in Singapore is rarely heard of, unless you knowingly look for it and you will be surprised to find that archaeology has been around for the past 31 years since the first excavation in 1984.
Empress Place, an area in between Victoria Concert Hall and the Singapore river is being excavated, producing artefact findings from 700 years ago.
This could be one of Singapore's most important archaeological search yet.
“But I say a person who gets de-culturised, and I nearly was, so I know this danger. He loses his self-confidence, you get a sense of deprivation. For optimum performance, a man must know himself, know the world. He must know where he stands.” 13th August, 1978, Lee Kuan Yew.
The only site given to the team. This is important as it allows the team to gain context based on the artefacts found in the given site.
The site "office".
Chiseling off little by little so as not to harm any potential finds.
The soil collected in the buckets will be sieved to reveal the large objects.
The team resting during lunch time.
Lead archaeologist Lim Chen Sian looking at the site when construction workers were having their lunch time, trying to salvage anything he can find.
Working alongside the construction poses challenges as well as dangers to both the team and the artefacts.
A reality in Singapore archaeology, where construction work takes precedence over excavation. Here, the race to recover an artefact which could have been easily crushed by construction work.
Never letting up any opportunity to look at possible fragments of artefacts. Even a small broken piece tells a story.
An artefact being retrieved by a construction worker who was clearing the debris.
A rare find that is in complete condition.
A curator from the National Museum looking at what has been found so far. What I learnt is that museums look for complete, unbroken artefacts, while archaeologists are interested in artefacts of any form.
The work continues...to find as many artefacts as possible.
Another rare find of a unbroken porcelain bowl.
Small finds will give clue to the era.
Fighting against time.
Behind every civilisation was another one centuries before.
Documentation is an important part of excavations.
"What could have been...if given more time." As the day comes to an end, the team is waiting for the authorities to give the green light to continue the excavations.
A couple of days later, the site has been completely emptied.
A glimmer of hope remains as the archeology team wait for the green light by the authorities to give more time for the excavation.