Reviewing Archaeological Research in Melaka: Challenges and Future Potentials

Since the 2nd Century B.C.E., Chinese, Indian and Greek accounts suggest the early emergence of port-polities in the Malay Peninsula.  Due to favourable geomorphological settings as well as geostrategic position, some of these polities developed to entrepôts, and Melaka is one of them.  Upon being established by Parameswara and his early successors, Malacca quickly evolved from a feederpoint selling mainly tin ores and salted fish to an international emporium. Much has been written regarding the history of Melaka mostly based on the Portuguese, Chinese and Malay accounts.  Due to the abundance of the historical sources, important insights into their statecraft, political organizations and customs became quite clear.  However, historical research needs to be complemented with archaeological study, which is important to attest the written records as well as to reveal the material culture of the society.  The material remains of Melaka from the Sultanate period is extremely scarce despite of its position as the centre for inter-regional trade.  Consequently, most of the past archaeological works in Melaka revolved around unearthing Portuguese and Dutch bastions.  This paper attempts to discuss to review the past archaeological works, as well as to present the challenges and potentials for future research in Melaka.