University of Otago research has found evidence of a wide range of ethnicities and cultures working and living on the Otago goldfields.
The three-year study, part of a larger Southern Cemeteries Archaeological Project supported by the Marsden Fund, examined skeletal remains from both the pastoral settlement of colonial Milton and the European and Chinese populations on the goldfields in Lawrence.
Department of anatomy postdoctoral research fellow and lead author Dr Charlotte King said researchers set out to look at where the people of colonial Otago came from, using direct evidence from skeletons.
All the remains examined were buried in lost, unknown or unmarked graves, which were uncovered during excavations associated with the project.
"In this kind of context, biological evidence has the potential to reveal more information about these lost individuals than is available in often vague and generalised historic records, " Dr King said.
The research, published in The Journal of Archaeological Science, employed isotopic techniques, which used chemical signatures in teeth to give an idea of where a person was born.
DNA evidence provided details about maternal ancestry.
The research team found the most geographic diversity in the Ardrossan St cemetery in Lawrence.
"It seems likely that people buried there came from all over the United Kingdom and Europe. We found one person whose isotopic signatures could only come from a quite warm climate like the Mediterranean or perhaps one of Britain’s more tropical colonies," Dr King said.
Another surprising discovery was the variety of places the Chinese population came from, she said.
Co-author Prof Lisa Matisoo-Smith, who undertook the genetic analyses, said one person buried in the Chinese cemetery had a DNA lineage more common in island Southeast Asia, rather than mainland China.
Chinese on the goldfields were often believed to have all come from the region of Guangzhou, but the isotope work showed they probably came from a few different regions of China.
Another had European DNA traits despite being buried with artefacts (a burnt offering) which showed they most likely identified as Chinese, Prof Matisoo-Smith said.
The research team hoped the the study would illustrate how diverse colonial New Zealand was, despite its strong British identity, even in British-dominated settlements such as Milton, which had now been shown be a "melting pot" where many cultures collided.
Funding for the research included a Marsden Fast-Start Grant.
