Researchers at Milton cemetery – photo credit Dr Rebecca Kinaston.
University of Otago research analysing skeletal remains has found evidence of a range of ethnicities present on the Goldfields of Otago, proving some assumptions of the cultural make-up of early settler New Zealand to be inaccurate.
“When we talk about colonial New Zealand we often just think about the British colonists, which cuts out a lot of the cultural diversity present in nineteenth century New Zealand. Our research set out to look at where the people of colonial Otago came from, using direct evidence from skeletons themselves,” says lead author Dr Charlotte King, of Otago’s Department of Anatomy.