Team 6 : Coins from the Temasek Port

During the trip to NUS Museum, a coin caught my eye. This was a coin that was excavated from Singapore Fort-canning Park. After discussion with my team, we agreed that it would be very interesting to do Singapore’s monetary system during temasek.

In my research, I found that most of the coins used in Singapore during the Temasek period are ancient copper coins from the Song and Yuan dynasty. However, there have also been coins from Sri Lanka and Kupang (Indonesia) that have been excavated.

Nonetheless, I will be using Chinese copper coins for my exhibition..

Chinese Copper Coins

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Chinese Copper Coins
Singapore (Temasek), 14th – 15th century

Excavated from Fort-canning Park, Empress Place, and Singapore River. These ancient coins originated from Song and Yuan dynasty in China. These coins were the ancient currency of Singapore, used in trade when the Chinese came to Singapore.

Poster Draft 

As intense excavations are carried out in Singapore, various artefacts from before Singapore was colonised by the British were uncovered. Amongst these artefacts, numerous ancient Chinese copper coins were found.

The origins of these coins stretch from the Song dynasty to the Yuan dynasty, suggesting that well-established trade has been on-going between Singapore and China long before the British colonised Singapore.

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Variety of Porcelain Excavated from Empress Place.
Celadon (Greenware), Dehua (Whiteware), and Blue-and-White Porcelain; 14th Century.

Excavated from Empress Place recently in April 2015, these artefacts have been dated around 14th century, bringing new insight into Singapore’s trade in the past. Under the once thriving port, archaeologists discovered around 400 kilograms worth of artefacts. These porcelains suggest that Singapore had its doors open to trade with China way back, and that perhaps there was a large amount of trade such that so many artefacts could be recovered.

Although these porcelains are mostly broken, there is a story behind each piece. Their existence makes us question about their worth to the people of that era. Porcelain is precious to us now, but was it back then? For these porcelain to be broken and thrown away suggests that perhaps these wares were easily replaceable? Are these shards perhaps the result of a careless trader who dropped his wares, or maybe they are shards that make up a well-used bowl for daily eating?

more to read:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/empress-place-dig-yields/1787534.html