At Fort Canning, the oldest archaeological site in Singapore, many artefacts dating back to the 14th century have been uncovered, including
ceramics from the
Yuan dynasty period, Indian glass beads,
Chinese porcelain ware and
copper coins. Although Fort Tanjong Katong, whose construction started only in 1879, was much newer than Fort Canning, a number of artifacts have also been unearthed there. 36 bags of marine ecofact and
coral samples were collected from the site and have been sent to the
Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the
National University of Singapore (NUS) for analysis. Significant parts of the fort, which was demolished after
World War I, were also found
in situ. There were so many artifacts uncovered at the Padang that both the work period and the size of the test pit were lengthened. The artifacts include indigenous earthenware, Chinese trade ceramics, and coins from the
Tang,
Song and
Jin dynasties. Investigations in the south-east corner of Istana Kampong Glam indicate that a structure may have predated the existing Istana, which was built around 1842. This would support written accounts that have described a wooden structure that
Sultan Hussein and his family lived in as early as 1830. The earliest dated artifacts unearthed are
Dutch East India Company and mid-Qing coins. Other artifacts recovered are mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries and include
Malay earthenware,
European transfer print ceramic, Japanese ceramic ware, and various species of marine
gastropods and
bivalves. Excavations at St. Andrew's Cathedral have revealed artifacts dating from the 14th century to the 20th century, which suggest that the 14th-century settlement in Singapore extended well beyond the
Singapore River. ==Challenges==