Reflections of Their Homelands—Early Life Enamel Formation Disruption in Nineteenth Century Settlers of Otago, New Zealand

Physiological stress during early life can impede development, and signals of this are preserved in nonremodelling tissues such as dental enamel. This article describes nonspecific stress markers in the teeth of European ( n = 30) and Southern Chinese ( n = 15) adult migrants to New Zealand, and colony‐born children ( n = 10) interred in four historic Otago cemeteries (c. 1857–1904). Standard histological methods were used to identify and trace accentuated lines (ALs), indicators of enamel formation disruption. All Chinese adults, 93.3% of European adults, and 90% of New Zealand‐born subadults exhibited AL formation. Chinese adults exhibited the highest mean occurrence of ALs per individual, and patterns of AL formation during early childhood differed in individuals of different ethnic and environmental backgrounds. This variation could be attributed to genetic variation in ameloblast susceptibility to stress, disparities in stability of the childhood environment, and/or sociocultural influences on growth and development. These data illustrate the embodiment of physiological stress during early life in poorer classes during the nineteenth century. While childhood hardship was a potential driver of adult decisions to depart for new lands such as New Zealand, it was not absent in the early lives of children born in the colony.