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A gravestone at the Drybread Cemetery in Central Otago.
Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
The month-long excavation finished earlier in December.
Drybread, north of Alexandra, was an 1860s gold rush settlement.
The cemetery dates back to that time, but is still in use today and the fear that future planned burial plots may already contain remains led to the excavation.
The dig s co-director, Professor Hallie Buckley, said 12 graves were exhumed including six Chinese people and two infants.
Professor Hallie Buckley.
Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown We were able to identify two of the Chinese people from the names still on the coffin plate and [find] tantalising clues about another of the Europeans - the only female we found, actually, she said.