CHINESE CERAMICS AND THE ECONOMICS OF EARLY SOUTHEAST ASIAN URBANISATION, 14TH TO 16TH CENTURIES

Abstract

Archaeological research in Singapore has identified more than 10 sites within the boundaries of a settlement founded at the beginning of the 14th century. The settlement appears to have covered an area of about 85 hectares by the middle of that century. Thereafter, it contracted to a small outpost at the mouth of the Singapore River before disappearing around 1600. The ceramics from this research are still being sorted, but it is now possible to compare the proportions of different types of Chinese ceramics at these sites, and to examine the implications of these proportions for the interpretation of some aspects of early settlement in Singapore.