Day Nineteen

Anyer Lighthouse

Today was the second last day of our project. Therefore, we took the opportunity to travel around the Banten area. We set off quite early because it would be a long journey and we packed the necessary road trip items such as drinks and Keropok. The first stop of our trip was the coastal town of Anyer. Anyer overlooks the Sunda Straits and on a clear day, the infamous Krakatau could be seen. We did not manage to see Krakatau but we managed to scale a 40 metre tall lighthouse. This lighthouse was constructed by King Willem III of the Netherlands in 1885 as a memorial for the people who lost their lives during the eruption. The top of the lighthouse commands a great view of the surrounding area and the seemingly endless sea and the view up there was breathtaking. After Anyer, we got back on our journey and made our way towards Serang. On our way to Serang, we traversed through the highlands of Banten. Peering through the window of the vehicle, we were welcomed by a beautiful lush green landscape, dotted with terraced Padi fields and majestic mountains. The view was spectacular and it reminded me of my mountain trekking days. Before heading to Serang, we went to a town to buy some authentic Javanese coffee. The shop that we bought the coffee had a rustic look and the smell of coffee permeates his shop. Even, a non-coffee drinker like me was tempted to purchase some coffee to try. When we reached Serang, it was already dark and we bought our dinner there before heading back to ‘MESS’. This road trip around the Banten area was truly an experience I would never forget and it was all thanks to Pak Sonny Wibisono, Ibu Naniek Harkantiningsih and Pak Sarjiyanto.

Love,
Michael

Day Eighteen

Soil Samples of our unit

Today Chen taught us more about documenting and recording our soil layers. Detailed records are extremely important in archaeology so we have to be meticulous in our documentation.

In our daily recording of every spit, we would record the soil colour using the standardised Munsell Soil Colour Chart. Today, we revisited the soil samples we had acquired over the past two weeks from every spit and learnt how to identify the soil types.

We went over the soil colour again, as the colour might differ slightly since it could have been damp when we recorded it onsite. I learnt that it would be great if we also indicated if the soil colour was determined under very strong sunlight or not so strong sunlight, for better accuracy.

We learnt how to describe the soil; if there were any organic matter, such as roots, or shells, and if so, how big these organic matter were. Instead of describing them as tiny, or medium, which is subjective and not very helpful to another person reading the recordings, we should have a standardised measure. Also we learnt how to identify if the soil was sandy and granular, or silty, or clayey. Documentation of soil layers are very important because it provides us with the context of where the artefacts were found.

In the evening, we had our end of excavation party to thank all our wonderful helpers. It was a great party with lots of yummy Indonesian food, good fun and magic tricks by Michael which our friends thoroughly enjoyed.

We are also extremely thankful to Ibu Naniek, Pak Sonny and Pak Sarji for procuring the food for the party, organising it and making sure everyone had a good time.

The wonderful spread

Our friends who have been helping us tirelessly at the excavation

Love,
Christabel

Our Flickr Photostream

Do check out some of the pictures taken by the team on our Flickr account.

Day Seventeen

Chen answering queries from Mr and Miss Banten finalists who came and paid us a visit

Today we continued on with our photo-taking of bones and earthenware. In the afternoon, we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from the finalists of the Mister and Miss Banten Lama competition. They were an inquisitive bunch who were interested in the work we were doing. Ibu Naniek gave them a little tour around our Mess which houses interesting finds and Chen answered all their queries.

At night, everyone came together to share their analyses as well as exciting future plans. It was certainly very insightful for us aspiring archaeologists!

For our unit, spit 10-13 was pre-fortifications, though not necessarily pre-Dutch. The artefacts from these spits were much bigger, and in greater quantity. There was also a pocket of dark, black sand from where the artefacts emerged, so next year they have plans to expand our unit so as to shed light on the pocket of dark, black sand.

Ibu Naniek shared about the artefacts from our unit she had identified, which were ceramics from the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, Batavian ware, clay pipes, glass from the 1920’s, very few Vietnamese ware and possibly no Thai ware. What was surprising was that there was also no European ceramics at all, which is puzzling considering that the fort was inhabited by Dutch soldiers.

Pak Sonny shared that the flooring we had hit on the north side of our unit is perhaps not a flooring but simply a technique for filling to make the building higher. He deduced this from the fact that the tiles were very haphazardly placed and even the quality of the kitchen’s floor (which is another unit excavated) was much better.

He also further shared about the unit they have established to be the kitchen area, which is the unit surrounding the well. Although there were no artefacts such as ash, burnt areas or stoves to prove that it was the kitchen, there is structural evidence such as the well nearby that was in a corner, as well as the sloping pathways.

I certainly enjoyed this interesting and insightful sharing session!

Love,
Christabel

Day Sixteen

Rani taking photographs of the artefacts after analysis

Today, we continued the task of analyzing the artifacts we have uncovered. We helped to sort the artifacts into its various taxonomy and in the order of where it was found. This enables us to analyze and conclude what kind of activities could have taken place in that unit. There are reasons why certain artifacts could be found in abundance in certain layers as compared to other layers. Photographs of the artifacts were also taken to provide us with a future reference. From our observations, there seemed to lack Dutch or European materials in the unit. This was somewhat peculiar as there was a strong Dutch presence in the area and it was abnormal not to find a large amount of Dutch or European materials. This finding is interesting and it will be helpful to our understanding of the site if we continue to excavate the area around the unit.

Love,
Michael

Day Fifteen

Bantenese coins

Since we had completed our excavation yesterday, we stayed in the ‘Mess’ today to start on analysis. Cherylyn and I tried our hand at analysing the metals. What is puzzling and strange about our unit is that we found many Bantenese and Chinese coins, much more than the other units excavated! Ibu Naniek joked that the room was probably previously used as a bank.

For our analysis, we looked at every single artefact and in a Microsoft Excel sheet, noted down all the information we could derive from it, such as where it was found (Which grid? Which spit? How deep?), what type it was (for this analysis it would be metal for us), what colour it is, what was its country of origin and which dynasty it came from, what was its design like, and what are its dimensions.

From all these gathered information and statistics, we would be able to form hypotheses.

We also worked on our posters for the museum. We live just across the museum housing artefacts from Banten Lama, and we thought it would be a great idea to enhance it further. Today we worked on our posters and decided to have one on ‘Past Excavations’, and ‘Ongoing Excavations’ taking place in Banten Lama, and the other one featuring a case study on our excavation at Fort Speelwijk. We also created a fun activity sheet for school children involving the artefacts in the museum!

Love,

Christabel

Day Fourteen

Yesterday, we woke up early and went for a walk to the coast through the shrimp farms, there were a lot of ceramics scattered around. We also walked through the swamp at the back of the Chinese Temple, where we spotted ceramics as well as a Chinese tomb stone. After this we had a house visit to Rani’s, an Indonesian archaeologist who has been helping processing the artefacts found at Surosowan Palace over the last two years, farm which is a one-hour drive away. We had a wonderful lunch of catfish and a traditional East Javanese dish of coconut and chicken. On the way back we stopped at Istana Kaibon, the Queen’s Palace, which was the home of the wives of Sultans of Banten. It was an interesting day and a great break from excavation.

Sherds littered everywhere right on the surface of the walking paths of the shrimp farms

Istana Kaibon

Today, was the last day of excavation and my second last day in Banten, as I’m heading home early for university which begins on the 25th July. The local workers helped bring down the rest of the southern end of the unit to about 2 ½ metres below the datum point, where we have been concentrating our efforts over the past weeks. Christabel and I sorted through the very muddy clay that was coming out, which felt a lot like playing in the mud, and to our great surprise we found a lot of artefacts. These included large pieces of blue and white porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware, as well as some animal bones (including a mandible that most likely belongs to a dog) and large shells. Michael was on washing duty and he cleaned up the artefacts that we pulled out. In the unit, the workers reached the water table and used a pump to extract the water. Finally, the artefacts thinned out and we hit sterile grey clay. It was an exciting morning as the excavation was coming to an end and we thought that there would not be any more artefacts to be found.

Christabel and I sorting through muddy clay and wet sand while Michael washes the artefacts

Our unit

In the afternoon, we headed over to Pak Sarji’s unit, which was opened outside the fortifications against the stone walls. We took a soil sample for micromorphological analysis, which Kay will take back to the U.S. to get analysed in the lab. We also took a core sample of the unit as well, which will be sent to a lab to be analysed. Overall, the general feeling is that the excavation has been a success. Tomorrow, analysis and processing of the artefacts found shall begin. Look out for Christabel and Michael’s posts over the next week!

Love,
Cherylyn

Day Twelve

Measuring and sketching our unit

Today was the beginning of the end of unit U6T6. Yesterday, a clayey layer was found at the southern portion of the unit and it was deduced to be reaching the end of the unit. Therefore, today, our team’s emphasis was focused on the sketching of the entire unit. The southern portion of the unit was excavated by Pak Obei to make sure that it was indeed reaching the end of the unit. As most of us had no experience in sketching, we worked together to complete the sketch. 2 of us were responsible for the measurements and 1 would do the sketch. It was not easy to sketch and it took some time to get the hang of it. Comparing our work with Pak Odin’s previous sketch, we still had a lot to learn. The excavation at the southern portion yielded some artefacts and it helped exposed the walls and footings of the unit. This gave us a clearer picture of the architecture of the chambers. During the evening, we had our first dinner out in the city of Serang. It was nice to be out in an urban area after spending a lot of our time in the field. We had a good meal and bought some supplies before we headed back to the MESS.

Taking a cincau break from sketching our unit

Love,
Michael

Day Eleven

The unit excavated outside Fort Speelwijk

We finished up Spit 8 (105 cmbd – 120 cmbd) today, and started on Spit 9 (120 cmbd – 135 cmbd). As with previous spits, we encountered a lot of rubble. We have already stopped excavating at the north area before the wall where we hit flooring and only continued at the southside of our unit.

Spit 9 was strange because we actually encountered lesser artefacts than the previous Spits, which we thought might be otherwise. Halfway through Spit 9, we hit damp, sticky, grey clay. Chen explained that this is usually the type of clay found near rivers and it would be pointless digging further because it might be sterile.

At Spit 9 we found a blue and white sherd, lesser organic materials, some earthenware and one clay pipe stem. The lack of clay pipes have been puzzling us as we had anticipated much more clay pipes, since Fort Speelwijk housed Dutch soldiers. Clay pipes also provides us with excellent clues to date other artefacts found together with them because they have the maker’s imprint on them, giving us a very accurate time period.

The unit being excavated outside Fort Speelwijk however found a huge bagful of clay pipes. I suppose the soldiers used to conveniently toss their trash right outside their Fort back then, as we do with our cigarette buds now.

Love,

Christabel

Day Ten

Hi All,
By this stage we are really getting into the swing of things with the routine of life here. Michael finished up SPIT VI using the hoe, whilst Christabel, Chen, and I were on screening duty. There were a lot of artefacts coming out with larger pieces of ceramics being found. We then started on SPIT VII (90 – 105 cmbd), where there were still a lot of artefacts coming up, these include Bantenese coins, a mix of earthenware, stoneware and some porcelain, and small animal bones (possibly indicating rodent activity). We had our customary lunch break from 12:30 – 2pm where we headed back to the mess for some lunch, card games, and a nap. Upon return to the Fort we continued digging; finishing up SPIT VII and starting on SPIT VIII. We continued with screening all of the buckets coming out, with the friendly shepherd boy helping out by carrying buckets every so often. The day of excavation finished at 5pm and then we headed to the mess to clean up as we had been invited to an Indonesian Muslim Wedding. It was a new experience and much appreciated for the delicious food and local music being played, and was a nice way to spend the evening.
Tomorrow, more excavation! Look out for Christabel’s entry.
Love,
Cherylyn