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In December 1999, a back hoe digging a trench to lay water
pipes near the swimming pool made a gruesome discovery. Its
shovel struck and partially broke the lid of a ceramic urn of
possible Qing dynasty origin. The urn was found to contain human
bones. There was a flurry of media attention with speculation on
the evening news about whether this was a relic of an execution
during the Japanese occupation or whether it was from a more recent
criminal act.
An archaeological team from the National Museum Department of Antiquities descended on the V.I. and carefully removed the urn for further examination. The V.I. was built in 1927 on the site of a former Chinese cemetery which required the exhumation of hundreds of graves before construction began. Even in 1937, when the swimming pool was being built, human bones, including a skull, were unearthed. And in 1956, when excavations began for the construction of the Merdeka Stadium behind the swimming pool, more bones were discovered. So it is likely that this latest find could have been a burial urn overlooked for the past 72 years.
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