“Captain of All These Men of Death”: An Integrated Case Study of Tuberculosis in Nineteenth-Century Otago, New Zealand

The South Island of New Zealand saw several major waves of migration in the mid-nineteenth century, predominantly from Europe but also with an ethnically distinct Chinese presence. The rural community of Milton, Otago, was a settler community established primarily by immigrants from the United Kingdom in search of a better quality of life. However, these settlers faced unique challenges related to surviving in an isolated location with very little infrastructure compared to their origin populations. In 2016, excavation was undertaken at St. John’s burial ground, Milton, with the object of using bioarchaeological methods to elucidate the lived experience of the first organized European settlement of this region, particularly in terms of health and disease. Here we present a case study of Burial 21 (B21), a male individual of known identity and a documented cause of death. We use biochemical and paleopathological methods to ground-truth his written history, which includes a period of invalidism due to tuberculosis, and discuss the implications of our findings for the community, provision of care, and quality of life in rural colonial New Zealand. He maha tonu ngā hekenga tāngata ki Te Waka a Māui i ngā tau kei waenga pū o te rau tau 1800, ko te nuinga nō Ūropi, heoi he tokomaha tonu nō Haina. Nā ngā manene nō Peretānia te hapori o Milton i whakatū ki Tokomairaro, i Ōtākou, i tō rātou hiahia ki tētehi oranga kounga ake i tō rātou oranga i Peretānia. Heoi, ko ētehi o ngā wero nui i tau ki ngā manene nei i ahu mai i te noho pūreirei ki tētehi wāhi kāore rawa ngā ratonga i rite ki ngā wāhi i ahu mai ai rātou. I te tau 2016, i hahu kōiwi i te urupā o Hato Hone, i Milton, hei whakamātau i te kaha o te ora me ngā momo mate i pā atu ki ngā tāngata whai i noho i te rohe nei. Nei rā he ripoata mō tētehi kua hahua, kua tapaina ko B21, he tāne ia, ko tōna ingoa kua mōhiotia, ko tōna mate kua āta tuhia. Kua āta whakamātauria ōna kōiwi me ōna toenga kiko mō ngā tohu ora me ngā tohu mate, kia mārama ai mena rānei e hāngai ana ngā tuhinga rongoā mōna, ngā mea i tuhia nōna e takatū ana, tae atu ki te wā i tūroro ia i te mate kohi, ki ngā tohu e puta ana i te mātauranga Rongoā-Koiora ō nāianei. Ka matapakina ngā hīrautanga o ngā kitenga me te māramatanga kua puta i tēnei rangahau e pā ana ki te hapori, ki ngā ratonga hauora, me te kounga o te oranga mō te hunga noho tuawhenua i tērā wā i Aotearoa

Vitamin D status in post-medieval Northern England: Insights from dental histology and enamel peptide analysis at Coach Lane, North Shields (AD 1711–1857)

Objectives: The post-medieval period in Europe saw a dramatic increase in metabolic bone disease related to vitamin D deficiency (VDD). Recent paleopathological work has utilized interglobular dentin (IGD) as a proxy for poor vitamin D status during development, while enamel peptide analysis allows the identification of chromosomal sex in non-adult remains. Here we explore the relationship between sex, the presence of IGD, and macroscopic markers of VDD in an industrial era assemblage from Northeast England. Materials and methods: 25 individuals (9 females, 9 males, 9 unknown sex) from the cemetery site at Coach Lane, North Shields (1711–1857) were selected for paleopathological analysis, histological assessment of IGD, and enamel peptide determination of chromosomal sex. Results: Ground tooth sections from 21 individuals were of suitable quality for detection of IGD, and enamel peptide analysis confirmed the chromosomal sex of ten individuals. Sixteen individuals (76.1%) exhibited ≥1 episode of IGD. Nine of these (42.8%) exhibited >1 episode and four (19%) exhibited ≥4 episodes in regular intervals. Male sex was significantly associated with the presence of IGD (p = 0.0351; 100% males vs. 54.5% females). Females were more likely to exhibit macroscopic evidence of VDD (45.5% females vs 30% males) but this was not statistically significant. Discussion and conclusions: Periods of poor mineral metabolism during childhood appear much more prevalent at Coach Lane than macroscopic evidence suggests. Evidence of seasonal IGD episodes indicates that northern latitude played a major role in poor VD status in the Northeast of England. The significant association of IGD with male sex may be due to sex-related differences in dentinal mineralization or a higher risk of poor VD status in males aged <5 years. More work is needed to establish an evidence-based threshold for pathological levels of IGD before the presence of this feature can confidently be used as a biomarker for poor VD status

Vitamin D status in post-medieval Northern England:Insights from dental histology and enamel peptide analysis at Coach Lane, North Shields (AD 1711-1857)

Objectives The post-medieval period in Europe saw a dramatic increase in metabolic bone disease related to vitamin D deficiency (VDD). Recent paleopathological work has utilized interglobular dentin (IGD) as a proxy for poor vitamin D status during development, while enamel peptide analysis allows the identification of chromosomal sex in non-adult remains. Here we explore the relationship between sex, the presence of IGD, and macroscopic markers of VDD in an industrial era assemblage from Northeast England. Materials and methods 25 individuals (9 females, 9 males, 9 unknown sex) from the cemetery site at Coach Lane, North Shields (1711-1857) were selected for paleopathological analysis, histological assessment of IGD, and enamel peptide determination of chromosomal sex. Results Ground tooth sections from 21 individuals were of suitable quality for detection of IGD, and enamel peptide analysis confirmed the chromosomal sex of ten individuals. Sixteen individuals (76.1%) exhibited ≥1 episode of IGD. Nine of these (42.8%) exhibited &gt;1 episode and four (19%) exhibited ≥4 episodes in regular intervals. Male sex was significantly associated with the presence of IGD (p = 0.0351; 100% males vs. 54.5% females). Females were more likely to exhibit macroscopic evidence of VDD (45.5% females vs 30% males) but this was not statistically significant. Discussion and conclusions Periods of poor mineral metabolism during childhood appear much more prevalent at Coach Lane than macroscopic evidence suggests. Evidence of seasonal IGD episodes indicates that northern latitude played a major role in poor VD status in the Northeast of England. The significant association of IGD with male sex may be due to sex-related differences in dentinal mineralization or a higher risk of poor VD status in males aged &lt;5 years. More work is needed to establish an evidence-based threshold for pathological levels of IGD before the presence of this feature can confidently be used as a biomarker for poor VD status.</p

A brief history of nutritional rickets

Since first described almost a century ago, vitamin D preparations have been successfully used as a public health intervention to prevent nutritional rickets. In this manuscript, we document the periods in history when nutritional rickets was described, examine early efforts to understand its etiology and the steps taken to treat and prevent it. We will also highlight that despite the wealth of historical data and multiple preventative strategies, nutritional rickets remains a significant public health disorder. Nutritional rickets has both skeletal and extraskeletal manifestations. While the skeletal manifestations are the most recognized features, it is the extraskeletal complications, hypocalcaemic seizure and cardiomyopathy that are the most devastating features and result in reported fatalities. Reviewing this history provides an opportunity to further promote recent global consensus recommendations for the prevention and management of nutritional rickets, as well as gain a greater understanding of the well-known public health measures that can be used to manage this entirely preventable disease

Living and dying on the edge of the Empire: a bioarchaeological examination of Otago’s early European settlers

During the nineteenth century, New Zealand was promoted as a land of plenty, promising a ‘better life’, to encourage families to settle and develop the growing colony. This paper characterises the life-course of early settlers to New Zealand through historical epidemiological and osteological analyses of the St John’s burial ground in Milton, Otago. These people represent some of the first European colonists to Aotearoa, and their children. The analyses provided glimpses into the past of strenuous manual labour, repeated risk of injury, and oral and skeletal infections. Mortality of infants was very high in the skeletal sample and the death certificates outlined the varied risks of infection and accidents they faced. Osteobiographies of seven well-preserved adults demonstrated the detailed narratives that can be gleaned from careful consideration of individuals. The skeletal record indicates childhood stress affecting growth and risk of injury prior to migration. However, the historical record suggests that occupational risks of death to the working class were similar in the new colony as at home. The snapshot of this Victorian-era population provided by these data suggests that the colonial society transported their biosocial landscape upon immigration and little changed for these initial colonists

Childhood in Colonial Otago, New Zealand: Integrating Isotopic and Dental Evidence for Growth Disturbance and Oral Health

Experiences of childhood in colonial New Zealand are difficult to reconstruct from the historical record alone. Many of those who came to the colony were illiterate, and the Victorian tendency to avoid discussion of pregnancy and breastfeeding practices restricts our understanding of this important period. Bioarchaeological investigation, however, has the potential to illuminate the life stories of these first-generation Pākehā (European) settlers. Here we use isotopic evidence combined with dental pathology from children interred in a historic cemetery from Otago, New Zealand, to examine colonial childhood. We show how weaning practices in the colony differ from those experienced by their emigrant parents, highlight periods of illness likely associated with the weaning process, and bring to light the potential problems caused by maternal Vitamin D deficiency in the colony