Recent archaeological discoveries in Malaya (1957

B. A. V. Peacock, Curator of Museums for the Federation of Malaya, published this interim report in 1958 to document significant archaeological discoveries made during 1957 across the Malay Peninsula. The article addresses two distinct chronological horizons: Pleistocene palaeontological finds in Perak that bear on the long-standing problem of dating the Tampanian Lower Palaeolithic industry, and historical-period material culture from Kedah and Malacca that illuminates early modern maritime trade networks. Peacock’s overarching contribution is to demonstrate how the 1957 finds collectively advance the archaeological chronology of Malaya at both its deepest and its most recent temporal extremes.

Summary

The most consequential discovery reported is a assemblage of forty-six mammalian fossils recovered from a natural limestone pocket at Tambun in the Kinta Valley, Perak, at a depth of approximately thirty feet during tin-mining operations. The collection, examined by Dr. Hoijer at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijk Historie in Leiden, includes Duboisia cf. santeng—a taxon Peacock identifies as diagnostic for a Middle Pleistocene age—alongside Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros sondaicus, Sus, Cervus (?Rusa), Bibos c.q. Bubalus, and cf. Cynogale. The presence of Hippopotamus provides an upper chronological bracket, as it is incompatible with a post-Pleistocene fauna. This find dramatically expands the known Pleistocene palaeontological record for Perak, which previously consisted of a single Elephas namadicus tooth from Salak North (1905), and raises the prospect of finally resolving the chronology of the Tampanian industry, a collection of Lower Palaeolithic implements discovered by H. D. Collings at Kota Tampan in 1938 but never conclusively dated (pp. 180–182).

The historical archaeology section reports two finds. At Kampong Si-Puteh in the Kubang Pasu district of Kedah, agricultural work exposed a hoard of twenty-three underglaze-blue porcelain vessels, four glassware items, two coins, and bronze fragments buried in or with an earthenware pot. Roughly half the porcelains are attributable to Annamese manufacture (covered boxes, bottles, jars, and a small cup of types well known from the Philippines and Celebes), while the plates are Chinese Export Wares bearing late-Ming deer motifs and other designs. Peacock dates the hoard to the first half of the seventeenth century, not earlier than the very end of the sixteenth (pp. 182–183). At Malacca, construction work at the rear of No. 5 Fort Road (the Municipal Offices) yielded a large collection of pottery sherds, a bi-faced stone mould for tin ingots, a single piece of Dutch bone china, celadons of probable Siamese origin, and miscellaneous small finds including a cannon ball and plaster fragments bearing textile impressions. No evidence warranted a date earlier than late Ming or early seventeenth century (pp. 184–187).

Key Findings

• Forty-six mammalian fossils recovered at Tambun, Kinta Valley, Perak, at a depth of approximately 30 feet; the assemblage includes Duboisia cf. santeng (Middle Pleistocene diagnostic) and Hippopotamus (post-Pleistocene incompatible), establishing a new Pleistocene palaeontological horizon for Perak (p. 180).
• The Tampanian industry (Lower Palaeolithic, Kota Tampan, Perak Valley, discovered 1938) remains undated; Movius (1948) could offer only circumstantial evidence (overlying volcanic tuff with Mesolithic/Neolithic implements, and tin-bearing deposits), and Peacock calls for a teleological correlation between the Kinta and Perak Valley alluvial sequences (pp. 181–182).
• The Kampong Si-Puteh hoard (Kedah) comprises 23 underglaze-blue porcelain vessels, 4 glassware items, 2 coins (one silver with partially legible Arabic inscription containing A.H. 107, one bronze/copper with Arabic inscription), and bronze fragments including gilded pieces; dated to the first half of the seventeenth century (pp. 182–183).
• The Malacca site (No. 5 Fort Road) yielded a bi-faced stone mould for tin ingots of the flanged truncated pyramid type: the smaller intact mould is 1 inch deep with a 1.5-inch square flange and 1-inch square pyramid base; the larger broken mould was 3 inches deep with a 3-inch square flange and 2.5-inch square pyramid base (p. 185).
• Porcelain from the Malacca site includes basal fragments bearing a Ming tsao mark and a Hsiian Te reign mark (1426–35), a late-Ming ‘shop-mark’, and a single piece of Dutch soft bone china with tin glaze and maroon floral decoration (p. 185).
• Celadon sherds from Malacca, particularly large fragments of deep bowls with thinly potted greyish paste and pale green glaze, are attributed to Siamese origin; a large quantity of plain unglazed red earthenware with ‘pagoda’-type knobbed lids is also identified as Siamese (pp. 186–187).

Conclusion

Peacock’s definitive takeaway is that the 1957 discoveries, taken together, represent a meaningful advance in Malayan archaeology at both temporal extremes: the Tambun fossils provide the first substantial Pleistocene faunal assemblage from Perak and create a realistic pathway toward resolving the Tampanian dating problem through correlation with Dr. Walker’s Quaternary studies, while the historical-period finds from Kedah and Malacca confirm the presence of Annamese, Chinese, Siamese, and European material culture in the peninsula during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, consistent with the broader maritime trade patterns of the period.

Context

• The article draws on the Raffles Museum collection (Singapore) and the Federation Museums Journal as primary institutional sources; the Tambun fossils were examined by Dr. Hoijer at Leiden, and the Malacca site was subsequently taken up by the University of Malaya Archaeological Society under Christopher Hooi (pp. 182, 184).
• Historiographically, the piece functions as a bridge between the older colonial-era museum curation tradition and the emerging field of Malayan archaeology, with Peacock explicitly calling for the physiographic and stratigraphic groundwork (Walker, Sieveking) that would later underpin more rigorous chronological frameworks for the peninsula.

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