Abstract
Archaeometric techniques used to analyse nineteenth century stone masonry structures on the
Otago Peninsula in southern New Zealand provide the opportunity to examine the socioeconomic
and social status, cultural behaviour, and resilience of the Scottish immigrants who settled there,
and how they adapted to their new home. The multidisciplinary approach of this research attempts
to develop a useful methodology for the recording of historic stone masonry structures and the
manufactured materials used in their construction. Four case studies are used to test the
methodology, with conventional archaeological methods together with archaeometric analysis
used to record sites and structures. This approach utilises photogrammetry and the adaption of
scientific techniques such as petrography and SEM-EDS to record and analyse structural materials.
The results of this analysis are then used to consider how the Scottish immigrant settlers reacted
to their new home and made use of the natural raw materials that they found there. The
backgrounds and world view of these settlers is considered in detail in order to understand their
motivations and skills, and how they adapted to their new environment. This type of research has
not yet been established on historic sites in New Zealand, but aims to generate data through
invasive sampling to show how useful an archaeometric approach to recording and analysing
structures and their materials can be. The analysis of materials is useful for sourcing studies and
also the identification of constituents used in structural materials. This data can then be used to
consider the skills, understanding and adaptability of the people that created these structures.