Thickness is ranked as "1" for vestigial glaze, "2" for glaze applied as a thin even sliver, "3" for glazes clearly visible as a macroscopic band in cross-section, "4" when the glaze becomes thick in places (e.g. at points of inflection), "5" for moderately thick glazes, and "6" for very thick glazes. The number of glaze applications is determined by 30X inspection of the glaze in cross-section. Finally, slips are determined by inspection of the cross-section or tell-tale variations in surface colour.
Sawankhalok monochrome) have not been adequately sampled, while other classes are copiouslydocum ented, especially the early whitewarea and monochromes (whose identification is most prone to challenge and whose documentation I accordingly concentrated on). The number of observations for any tradeware class varies with the trait considered, for all sorts of reasons including the occasional om ission o f an observation, or isolated observations made during the laboratory work.
Finally, the tables include two changes from the system used by Kallupa et al.
(1989). Firstly, SSPHAP's "Ming celadon cf. Yuan" and "Ming celadon" categories are here combined, because seriation demonstrated these categories, contem poraneity (Kallupa et al., 1989). Secondly, coarse stoneware sherds are here classified to follow Harrisson (1986). Wherever the same or very alike museum specimens of stoneware jars are concerned, Harrisson (1986) gives age estimates highly comparable to those of Adhyatman and Ridho (1984). However, her research takes a step forward in using features of the sherds to describe seven classes from the 15th-16th century site of Kota Baru in Brunei. In order of frequency the classes are Sawankhalok (Ming antiquity); the often similar Brittle and Guangdong wares from China (10th to 20th centuries); two apparently Vietnamese types (Coarse Red and Go Sanh Red); and two Cambodian or rarer Thai classes (Coarse Brown and Wavy Line). But I may not have perfectly interpreted Harrisson's (1986) sherd-based descriptions, so the quantitative descriptions given here may diverge slightly from what Harrisson had envisaged.
Bangkah II
Bangkah n spit \ sherd \ (BKH I I - l - l ) . This basal sherd to an open vessel has a fine, almost pure white stoneware body and a light, blue-green gley glaze (M unsell 5BG7/1). The extant greyish blue decoration consists of a weakly banded sheet which is not clearly diagnostic but resembles the Swatow style. Several of the characters are more typically early Qing or "Qing Swatow" than Swatow (Tables 2 to 5). These include the sherds regularly glaze base, as characterises over 90% of SSPHAP's sample of Qing bases, but which gives way to unglazed, chocolate, glaze splashed, dirty or pinkish- glazed bases in 23/32 Swatow bases. Nonetheless a Swatow (17th century) identification is preferable, especially because of the stoneware body and decorative style, with a "Qing Swatow" (c. 1650-1750) identification the next most likely option.
BKH II-2-1. This lower cavetto sherd to an open vessel has scarcely detectable, concentric bands of cobalt decoration, which have fired blue-greenish gley (Munsell 5BG6/1), and the outer section of an unglazed stacking ring on the inside (Figure 1). The
gley-coloured glaze, 5Y7/1 interiorly and 5G6/1 exteriorly (Table 2), is murky and crazed. The initial impression is late Qing, especially because unglazed stacking rings are so typical of Fu plates and related wares (e.g. W illetts, 1981:14; G elderm alsen specimens 3201-3328; four SSPHAP specimens). But stacking rings occur on much earlier wares, not only Vietnamese (e.g. Guy, 1986; 107) but also six Ming Swatow and two Swatow sherds in SSPHAP's comparative sample. The mottled, reddish to pinkish grey body of BKH II-2-1 (Munsell 5YR/2-6/2) falls beyond the range of observed Qing body colours but within the Ming Swatow and Swatow ranges (Table 3). Also, the concentric underglaze bands on the lower cavetto are typically Ming, so overall a Ming Swatow (16th century) identification is to be preferred.
BKH II-2-2. This body sherd to a vase or tall thin jar has a thin glaze which is mostly discoloured white, owing to an extremely dense presence of white specks and fibres at the glaze surface. The white discolouration clears away sporadically, particularly above depressions in the body, to reveal a greenish gley glaze. Interiorly, the reddish yellow (5YR6/6) slip thins away in places, leaving rust-like marks whose reddish brown (5YR5/3) colour is affected by the dark underlying body. Actually, only the body’s thin walls are dark (N5/- or grey); the body's thick core is pale red (2.5YR6/2). The sherd's glaze and slip characters are shared with some greenware monochromes, notably Qing and Vietnamese, but these classes cannot match the sherd's body colours (Table 6 to 10). The sherd's body is fine and hard by the standards of most coarse stonewares, but within the range of some classes, notably Sawankhalok, Brittle and Guangdong, which can also show cored bodies with colours like those of BKH II-2-2 (Tables 15 ane 16). None of SSPHAP's coarse stonewares matches the glaze colour of BKH II-2-2, but one Sawankhalok sherd had a green-brown glaze, and Adhyatman and Ridho (1984:184) describe a Thai jar 'with a pitted light green glaze'. Other Sawankhalok characteristics are the brown and white speckling of the body and the rust-like marks inside (cf. Harrisson, 1986:36-37). BKH EI-2-2 would therefore seem to be an example of a finer Sawankhalok jar.
The stratigraphic position of these three sherds within the uppermost spits of Bangkah II, and some of the characters of the sherds, might appear to suggest a Qing dating. However, as also confirmed to some degree by the lack of European sherds, close study suggests a Ming dating, more specifically the 16th to 17th centuries. By implication the Bangkah II excavated deposits are all 17th century and older.