The Early History of Archaeology in Hong Kong: Fragments, Connections, Potentials

Renewed perspectives to the early history of Hong Kong’s archaeology are offered through this paper, which accounts for a collections review conducted into a previously unreported collection of archaeological finds in the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong. The review first identifies the collection as one of the earliest archaeological collections in Hong Kong. The reconstructed biography of the collection is used to highlight the key actors in the formation of archaeological knowledge in Hong Kong between the 1920s and 1960s, revealing trans-institutional, transnational, and transdisciplinary connections. The successes of this review has shown the potentials of resuming curatorial encounters with so-called ‘orphaned’ archaeological collections, in which important information and research potential can be recovered and reported in post-excavation contexts. By critically examining the methodological approach adopted, this paper seeks to advocate for this method and the potentials brought forth from this form of cross-disciplinary research, while situating the review’s contribution to the growing interest in archaeology in Hong Kong.