Gold ornaments dug up at Fort Canning, Singapore
This short note by R. O. Winstedt documents the discovery and description of a set of gold ornaments excavated at Fort Canning, Singapore, in July 1928 during construction of the Service Reservoir.
The ornaments were found by coolies at a depth of 5–6 feet below the plateau surface, just beneath the original solid ground level, with no signs of a grave or bones (p. 1). The set comprises a pair of flexible gold armlets bearing conventionalised Javanese Kala heads, a ring with an incised goose motif, six small diamond-set rings identified as ear-rings, an elliptical ruby-and-diamond ornament, and a jewelled clasp (pp. 1–2). Dr. P. V. van Stein Callenfels, Inspector of Antiquities of the Netherlands Indies, attributed the armlets to the Majapahit period at its best, i.e. the middle of the 14th century A.D. (p. 1). Winstedt concludes that the ornaments date from the Javanese Majapahit campaign against Palembang, which captured Singapore around 1360 A.D., and that they represent the most significant archaeological remains in British Malaya apart from a few inscribed stone monuments (p. 2).