A view of colonial life in South Australia: An osteological investigation of the health status among 19th-century migrant settlers

Abstract

Studies of human skeletal remains contribute to understanding the extent to which conditions prevailing in various past communities were detrimental to health. Few of these studies have evaluated the situation in which the first European colonists of South Australia lived. Colonial Australian skeletal collections are scarce, especially for research purposes. This makes the 19th-century skeletal remains of individuals, excavated from St Mary’s Cemetery, South Australia, a rare and valuable collection. The overarching aim of this thesis was to investigate the general and oral health of this specific group of 19th-century settlers, through the examination of their skeletons and dentitions. Four research papers in this thesis address this overarching aim. The first two papers determine the general skeletal health of the settlers, with a focus on pathological manifestations on bones associated with metabolic deficiencies and the demands of establishing an industrial society. Paper 3 investigated whether Large Volume Micro- Computed Tomography (LV Micro-CT) could be used as a single technique for the analysis of the in situ dentoalveolar complex of individuals from St Mary’s. This led to a detailed investigation of the dentitions of the St Mary’s sample, in paper 4, with the aims of determining the oral health status of these individuals, and understanding how oral conditions may have influenced their general health. The skeletal remains of 65 individuals (20 adults and 45 subadults) from St Mary’s sample were available for the four component investigations using non-destructive techniques - macroscopic, radiographic and micro-CT methods. Signs of nutritional deficiencies (vitamin C and iron) were identified in Paper 1. The findings of paper 2 showed joint diseases and traumatic fractures were seen and that gastrointestinal and pulmonary conditions were the leading causes of death in subadults and adults respectively. Paper 3 found that the LV Micro-CT technique was the only method able to generate images that allowed the full range of detailed measurements across all the oral health categories studied. A combination of macroscopic and radiographic techniques covered a number of these categories, but was more time-consuming, and did not provide the same level of accuracy or include all measurements. Results for paper 4 confirmed that extensive carious lesions, antemortem tooth loss and evidence of periodontal disease were present in the St Mary’s sample. Developmental defects of enamel (EH) and areas of interglobular dentine (IGD) were identified. Many individuals with dental defects also had skeletal signs of co-morbidities. St Mary’s individuals had a similar percentage of carious lesions as the British sample, which was more than other historic Australian samples, but less than a contemporary New Zealand sample. The 19th-century migrants to the colony of South Australia were faced with multiple challenges such as adapting to local environmental conditions as well as participating in the development of settlements, infrastructure and new industries. Evidence of joint diseases, traumatic injuries and health insults, seen as pathological changes and/ or abnormalities on the bone and/or teeth, confirmed that the settlers' health had been affected. The number of burials in the ‘free ground’ area between the 1840s -1870s was greater than the number in the leased plots, reflecting the economic problems of the colony during these early years. Validation of the reliability and accuracy of the LV Micro-CT system for the analysis of the dentoalveolar complex, in situ within archaeological human skull samples, provided a microanalytical approach for the in-depth investigations of the St Mary’s dentition. Extensive carious lesions, antemortem tooth loss and periodontal disease seen in this group would have affected their general health status. The presence of developmental defects (EH and IGD) indicated that many of the settlers had suffered health insults in childhood to young adulthood. Contemporaneous Australian, New Zealand and British samples had comparable findings suggesting that little improvement had occurred in their oral health since arriving in South Australia. In conclusion, the findings of this investigation largely fulfilled the initial aims. Our understanding of the extent to which conditions prevailing in the new colony were detrimental to human health has increased, as has our knowledge of why pathological manifestations and/or abnormalities were seen on the bones and teeth of individuals from the St Mary’s sample. A multiple-method approach, to derive enhanced information has been shown to be effective, whilst establishing a new methodology (LV Micro-CT) for the analysis of dentition in situ in human archaeological skulls. Further, this investigation has digitally preserved data relating to this historical group of individuals for future comparisons.