Connected fragments: an early Hong Kong archaeological collection

During a refurbishment project at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong in 2018, a large collection of uncatalogued artefacts was discovered. Between February and September 2021 an internal project team conducted a preliminary review of this material, identifying it as an orphaned collection of bulk archaeological finds, largely from Hong Kong, collected in various excavations from the 1920s to 1967. This article offers an account of this reviewing exercise and provides insights into the histories of the formation and deposition of the collection. By identifying key individuals and the excavations involved, we situate the artefacts within the broader study of the development of archaeology in Hong Kong, and show that they constitute one of the earliest composite archaeological legacy collections in the city.