It was by accident that workmen digging inside Parliament House
recently to prepare for the conversion of one of its room into a
computer room ___1___ upon
porcelain shards. They called the museum to see if it was ___2___.
Experts who visited the site immediately carried out their own
excavation ___3___. They
methodically scanned the soil horizontally, going
___4___ slowly. As it turned
out, the ground revealed three layers of soil, and ___5___
a treasure trove of artefacts, some dating back to the 13th
century. About 300 ___6___
of artefacts, including ceramics, stoneware and earthenware
dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, were found at the ___7___.
But what interested the ___8___
most was the charcoal that was found. The charcoal showed there
was some form of human ___9___
like cooking, and that people lived there. This find is
historically significant as it suggests the ___10___
of a settlement on the bank of Singapore River long before
Raffles was here; something which many Singaporeans do not know. |