While one questionable date of 95 b.c. was reported, the body of the dates was between a.d. 600 and 1300. Tom Harrisson was one of the pioneers in Southeast Asia in the study of beads. He summarized a number of these papers in a report (1973) comparing the beads recovered in Brunei to those that had been recovered in Sarawak.

Because of peaty soil and a high water table, much organic material, including wood, has been preserved in the Kota Batu site, the only such archaeological site known in Southeast Asia. Tom Harrisson (1974) reported on the wood remains excavated the first season at Kota Batu. He divided his subject into five parts: tree wood—1,577 pieces, coconut shell—399, other “nuts”—42, dammar (resin)—1,103, and charcoal—2,232. The tree wood included whole or partial: trays, bowls, and covers—16; dishes or wheels—6; kitchen utensils—11; tools for splitting or securing wood—8; spinning and weaving apparatus—17; fishing gear and boat parts—6; and toys—3 (8–10) The richness of this material from the small test excavation points to the wealth of the material that can be recovered when extensive excavations are made.

A site on the Tanjong Batu beach, the northeastern tip of Brunei, sixteen miles from Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, was discovered in 1974. A total of 199 primarily basal shards of small bowls were recovered, suggesting the possibility of a nearby shipwreck (Omar 1975). The shards were all considered to be Sung period (a.d. 917–1279), making them earlier than the great majority of the ceramics at Kota Batu and Sungai Lumut. Museum staff continued inspecting the site regularly and late in 1975 they discovered a polished stone adze, the first to be found in Brunei. Within days after this first discovery three more stone tools were turned over to the museum. All three of these were from the same area and had been found at about the same time as the first one (Omar and Shariffuddin 1976).

A new site, Kupang, was excavated by Omar and resulted in his M.A. thesis (1978). Unfortunately it has not been published; it appears to have been an important report for its treatment of the locally made earthenware. A brief report on the earthenware is included in an article on trade patterns between Brunei and neighboring areas from a.d. 700 to 1500 (Bellwood and Omar 1980). The site was first occupied around a.d. 750 according to C-14 dating. The earthenware is very similar to that reported by Solheim (1965a) from Tanjong Kubor in Sarawak. Bellwood and Omar name this pottery complex Tanjong Kubor (TK) ware. While they agree with Solheim that the TK ware is similar to pottery excavated in Cebu City in the Philippines, at Johore Lama in southern Malaysia near Singapore, and reported from Hong Kong, they do not go along with Solheim’s calling this Bau-Malay and saying that it is found widely from about a.d. 700 up to the recent past in Island Southeast Asia, including the central and southern Philippines.

Philippines

Robert Fox continued as the primary archaeologist in the Philippines until he had a stroke in 1978. As chairman of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum for many years, Fox helped to develop a number of well-trained Filipino archaeologists on the staff. He and his staff cooperated with the Department of Anthropology of the University of the Philippines in training a number of young archaeologists.

A great deal of archaeological fieldwork has been done by the National Museum, but unfortunately the museum does not have a regular publication. Many of the publications are short reports, put out on glossy paper for sale at the museum, and these do not receive wide circulation. A look at Fox’s bibliography, which is considerable, shows that many of his works were short pieces issued with special museum exhibits, newspaper articles, articles in trade journals, and articles in other sorts of publications that did not receive circulation outside the Philippines. Looking at references to papers by the staff of the museum presented at international conferences you see that many references are to required reports to the museum on completed fieldwork. One Philippine journal that has carried a number of archaeological reports is the Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, published by San Carlos University in Cebu