Part of the purpose of our work in colonial archaeology is to bring to light the stories of the people who are often left out of history books. In the nineteenth century, historical records were dominated by the stories of European men. Women, children, and non-Europeans aren’t given a voice, but they were there, and … Continue reading Women on the Goldfields?!?
Well, we've explored children's burials, childhood diseases, feeding children and their playthings...and our Little Lives series is drawing to a close. So for our final blog for NZ archaeology week we're heading back to St John's in Milton, and trawling through the old records to look at the social events set up for children in … Continue reading Childish Amusements
In the Southern Cemeteries project we mostly study skeletal remains and archaeology relating to death and burial. Not always the cheeriest topic! It's really important for us to remember that the people we're looking at lived lives before they died. They experienced hardships certainly, but they also had fun times! So for the final blogs … Continue reading Archaeology – it’s child’s play
In our last post we talked about the tragic story of the sisters who died of whooping cough just one day apart. Today in blog 4 of our Little Lives series, paleopathologist Dr. Annie Snoddy talks about the diseases that used to make childhood so dangerous for our colonists. Infants and children are the “canary … Continue reading Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
Last week we posted on how Otago handled the Influenza epidemic of 1918. This week, as New Zealand moves into lockdown due to Covid-19, Dr. Peter Petchey tells us what isolation meant to the European colonial settlers of NZ. As we all go into four weeks of social isolation it will be the greatest change … Continue reading Isolation in the colonial period
As we write this blog post our country is just beginning to feel the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This kind of pandemic is relatively rare in modern society... but the colonial settlers of Dunedin knew all about it. In this blog post we're exploring how our forebears dealt with concerns over disease spread. We … Continue reading Pandemics in the Past
Visiting a Chinese Camp Part 5 Today Les and Maisie conclude their tales of the Lawrence Chinese Camp by taking us into the darker underbelly of the nightlife - the camp's opium den. As with all of the other Chinese Camp posts, the broken English is deliberate and reflects spoken Chinese. We obtained flasks of … Continue reading Chinese Whispers: The darker side of the Lawrence nightlife
Visiting a Chinese Camp Part 4 Today we rejoin Les and Maisie Wong's visitors to the Lawrence Chinese camp, as they enjoy a meal with their hosts and are introduced to the camp's nightlife... Heading towards Ah Bok’s, we noticed Missy struggling with a pail of water. She said she was getting water from the … Continue reading Chinese Whispers: The Lawrence Chinese camp’s nightlife
Visiting a Chinese Camp (part 3) Today Les and Maisie Wong continue their trip back in time with the Chinese on the goldfields. Catch up on Part 1 and Part 2 of their story, and then join us as we explore the store and the Joss house in the camp... After ‘Charlie’ had departed we … Continue reading Chinese Whispers: The Chinese store and Joss house
Visiting a Chinese Camp Part 2. Today Les and Maisie Wong continue their trip back in time to the Lawrence Chinese Camp, bringing to life the stories of the Chinese on the goldfields... Sleeping in the loft was not without its problems. Apart from being unfamiliar with sleeping on bales of straw there was the … Continue reading Chinese Whispers: Making a fortune on the goldfields?
Southern Cemeteries Archaeology Project 