The Old Sydney Burial Ground: using isotopic analysis to infer the origin of individual skeletons

This research seeks to investigate the themes of colonial population migration through the exhumed remains from Sydney’s first official cemetery – the Old Sydney Burial Ground. Located beneath the heart of Sydney’s centre, this cemetery served as not quite the final resting place for up to 2361 of Sydney’s earliest colonial population. The study has examined radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotopes from the dental enamel of ten burials. Bivariate analysis contrasting the results against published data from Britain and Ireland has allowed the origins of the individual burials to be described; in two instances, possibly to the town of birth – Blair Atholl, Scotland.
The research provides new directions in the investigations of colonial population movement to Australia, and presents a context for future bioarchaeological and morphological research into colonial diet and health.