14TH CENTURY GREENWARES FOUND IN SINGAPORE; PROVENANCE RESEARCH   ROELAND STULEMEIJER (UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE IN VISUAL ARTS & FIRST MASTERS IN VISUAL ARTS, ROYAL ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS, ANTWERP, BELGIUM) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2008 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS Acknowledgements: Before venturing any further, I want to thank Dr. John N. Miksic for allowing me to help with and some of the excavation in Singapore. Also for allowing me to manage his archaeological lab for nearly three years but most of all, I want to thank him for his guidance throughout this research. Thanks also goes to all the Volunteers that have helped over the years excavating what, for many fellow residents in Singapore is considered pre-history and seemingly unimportant. I want to specifically thank Dr.2 D. Kyle Latinis for his help and guidance in the better understanding of the science of this thesis, I wish him good fortune as he is an all-round good guy. Foremost, I would like to thank my lovely wife Shirley for the patience she has had with me throughout this thesis and the stimulation she has given me to succeed. Her contribution to this research and persistence for me to finish I will treasure for the rest of my life. 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS TABLE OF CONTENTS: Acknowledgements: Table of Contents: List of Figures: LIST OF GRAPHS: PART HISTORICAL CONTEXT Chapter 1. Introduction 2. Context of the Research 10 3. Research Questions 10 4. Research Placement 10 4.1. Geographical scope of this research 10 4.2. Historical Context 11 4.3. Archaeological Context 14 4.4. Scientific Context 15 4.5. Greenware 15 Chapter 5. Historic Background 18 18 5.1. The Fourteenth Century in Southeast Asian History 18 5.2. Singapura’s Strategic location 19 5.3. Archaeological Data 22 5.3.1. Empress Place (EMP) 22 5.3.2. Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) 23 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS PART SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT 24 Chapter 24 6. Scientific Equipment 24 6.1. Introduction 24 6.2. Optical Emission Spectrometry 27 6.3. Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry 27 6.4. Atomic Absorption Spectrometry 27 6.5. X-Ray Fluorescence Techniques 28 6.6. Scanning Electron Microprobe Analysis 29 6.7. Proton Induced X-Ray Emission 29 6.8. Neutron Activation Analysis 29 Chapter 31 7. How has EDXRF been used? 31 8. Methodology 38 9. 8.1. Why EDXRF? 38 8.2. The EDXRF equipment 38 8.3. The size of the chosen sherds 42 8.4. Greenware 43 8.5. Sherd identification 46 8.6. Structure 48 How did I use EDXRF? PART DATA ANALYSIS 10. Statistical Programmes and Graphs 52 54 54 10.1. Data entry 56 10.2. Clustering 59 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS 11. Graph Analysis 60 12. Scatter Plot Analysis 83 PART DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 13. Subjective vs. Objective 13.1. Stylistic analysis 105 105 105 13.1.1. Researcher A 105 13.1.2. Researcher B 106 13.1.3. Researcher C 107 13.1.4. Researcher D 107 14. Analysis 108 15. Conclusion 115 16. References 118 17. Appendix 122 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS List of Figures: Figure 1.: Singapore Civic District Page 10 Figure 2.: Empress Place Excavation Site Page 22 Figure 3.: Singapore Cricket Club Excavation Site Page 23 Figure 4.: Schematic Drawing EDXRF Equipment Page 40 Figure 5.: EDXRF Machine at the NUS Physics Demonstration Lab Page 41 Figure 6.: Radiation Chamber Page 41 Figure 7.: Radiation Chamber Close-up Page 41 Figure 8.: Artefact Pedestal within Radiation Chamber Page 41 Figure 9.: Computer Registering Elements Page 42 Figure 10: Peak Identifying Page 42 Clay Colour Chart Page 49 Figure 11: EMP Sorting Structure Page 50 Figure 12: SCC Sorting Structure Page 50 Figure 13: Example Ternary Graph Page 54 Figure 14: Map of China Page 109 Figure 15: Chinese South-eastern Provinces Page 109    14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS LIST OF GRAPHS: Rb-Sr-Y Rb-Sr-Zr Rb-Sr-Nb Rb-Y-Zr Rb-Y-Nb Rb-Zr-Nb Zr-Sr-Y Sr-Y-Nb Y-Zr-Nb EMP Hard Paste EMP Soft Paste EMP Hart Paste Colours 567, 1451, 1316, 1415 EMP Soft Paste Colours 929, 489, 567, 483 SCC Soft Paste SCC Hard Paste SCC Hard Paste Colours 567, 1316, 1415, 1451 SCC Soft Paste Colours 929, 567, 489, 483 EMP Hard Paste Colours Combined EMP Soft Paste Colours Combined SCC Hard and Soft paste Colours Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS Rb-Sr Scatter Plot Page 83 Zr-Sr Scatter Plot Page 84 Rb-Zr Scatter Plot Page 85 Potential time line Test Page 86 Rb-Sr and Zr-Sr Combined Page 87 SCC Rb-Sr and Zr-Sr Page 88 SCC Hard Paste Page 89 SCC Soft Paste Page 90 EMP Rb-Sr and Zr-Sr Combined Page 91 EMP Hard Paste Page 92 EMP Soft Paste Page 93 EMP and SCC Hard Paste Page 94 EMP and SCC Soft Paste Page 95 EMP and SCC Hard Paste Rb-Sr Page 96 EMP and SCC Hard Paste Zr-Sr Page 97 EMP and SCC Soft Paste Rb-Sr Page 98 EMP and SCC Soft Paste Zr-Sr Page 99 EMP Soft and Hard Paste Rb-Sr Page 100 EMP Soft and Hard Paste Zr-Sr Page 101 SCC Soft and Hard Paste Rb-Sr Page 102 SCC Soft and Hard Paste Zr-Sr Page 103 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS Zhejiang, Longquan A,B,C, and D Compared Page 111 Zhejiang, Longquan A,B, and C Compared Page 113 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS PART HISTORICAL CONTEXT CHAPTER 1. Introduction This research started from the idea that there must be a more scientific way to assess provenance of ancient ceramics than the normal method of observation with the naked eye employed by most experts. These thoughts developed over nearly fifteen years of object conservation work in Singapore and were amplified by the volunteer work I have done with the Singapore Archaeological Laboratory. This research is meant to strengthen the knowledge of an active port-of-trade in the 14th century on the island of Singapore, not much different from present day Singapore. This research explores the possibilities of employing EDXRF (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Analysis) to obtain an enhanced insight into the greenware ceramic assemblage uncovered from the excavated fourteenth century layers at Empress Place and the Singapore Cricket Club, Singapore. The scientific testing conducted for this thesis is aimed to provide repeatable tests with a dataset, which can be analysed to investigate provenance questions. The 130 tests conducted for this research have been compared with each other in order to find commonalities or differences in chemical fingerprints. The 130 objects have been put in a sorting system; though this system is subjective, no pre-testing sorting system has been described in previous literature on the chemical analysis of ancient Chinese porcelain. This sorting system will allow us to compare the different test results with each other in unique ways. Test results show great promise when comparing chemical elements and displaying the results in graphs. Though more research will be needed to draw absolute conclusions, results of this research show that employing EDXRF for provenance research to solve problems regarding ancient trade in Singapore is a viable option. 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Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A Thesis, SEASP, NUS identify if the Greenware objects found in Singapore were produced in several areas in China or only one If there was one production centre trading its wares through and in Singapore, it is likely that the other products named by Wang Dayuan were also from or traded with one area in China 14th Century Singapore. .. district” of Singapore To be more precise, the excavations have been conducted within the Figure 1: Singapore Civic District streetdirectory.com area 10 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A Thesis, SEASP, NUS bounded by Stamford Road in the northeast, Fort Canning Park in the northwest, the Singapore River in the southwest and the Esplanade in the southeast... chemical fingerprints in the graphs compared to the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) site? Will the analysis of the chemical fingerprints provide us with a lead towards a greater insight in the provenance of the artefacts? Will we be able to distinguish ceramic production centres by the use of graph analysis or, better yet, individual kiln sites? 14 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research. .. including coins and Chinese porcelain from the latter half of the eighteenth century Artefacts from this era have not been retrieved from any other archaeological site in Singapore The second habitation layer was dated from the late thirteenth to mid-fifteenth century This was determined by stylistic analysis of Chinese porcelain and comparison with samples of 22 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; ... functioned as a hub for shipping and trade between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, and 19 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A Thesis, SEASP, NUS transhipped foreign products in high demand in the Chinese, Indian, and Island Southeast Asian markets (Wheatley 1961) John Crawfurd’s Description Of The Ruins Of Ancient Singapore From Journal of an... that “the northern side of the mountain is covered with the remains of the foundations of buildings” It was not surprising that when Dr Miksic started his first excavation in Singapore, he chose the north side of Fort Canning Hill 21 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A Thesis, SEASP, NUS 5.3 Archaeological data In 1984, Dr John N Miksic conducted the.. .14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A Thesis, SEASP, NUS 2 Context of the Research In order to place this research within its proper context, it is necessary to define its geographical location, chronological period, and scientific genre The field of this research is multi-disciplinary; thus, its intellectual boundaries must be defined in conformity... from the interior of the artefact by drilling Tests are then done on these samples by using a nuclear reactor As this technique involves the use of a nuclear reactor, only certain laboratories have this capability With the closing down of nuclear reactors, these research laboratories have become rare (Sproto 2003) None exists in Singapore 29 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research. .. sand glittering in the sunlight During the excavation in 2003, when the excavating team had removed the habitation layers, the team discovered beautiful white beach sand that indeed glittered in the sunlight s described in the Sejarah Melayu During the SCC excavation, about 40,000 artefacts were unearthed 2 http://www scc org sg/ 23 14th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland... objects For the Singapore chapter of archaeology and the accuracy of EDXRF provenance research, it is too early to make definite statements Large-scale chemical fingerprinting of artefacts found in Singapore and many other sites in Southeast Asia, including testing of local clay sources, would be needed to achieve a high degree of confidence in such conclusions Only after such large-scale testing would there . Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer M.A. Thesis, SEASP, NUS identify if the Greenware objects found in Singapore were produced in several areas in. fingerprints of the celadon sherds found in Singapore? Can EDXRF be an indicative procedure for research on the specific provenance of the kiln sites where ancient Chinese celadon found in Singapore. EDXRF for provenance research to solve problems regarding ancient trade in Singapore is a viable option. 9 14 th Century Greenwares found in Singapore; Provenance Research Roeland Stulemeijer