I was digging through an ocean of anonymous Chinese market gardeners when I came across this archaeology report—the first time I saw the story of an individual rather than an archive of a collective.

Chan Dar Chee (1851–1931) was one of the first Chinese immigrants in Aotearoa to build a successful business empire from market gardening. Chan’s former market garden, “Kong Foong Yuen” (江风园, the Garden of Prosperity), underwent an archaeological excavation in 2007. Spanning 362 pages, the archaeology report meticulously catalogues each unearthed artefact, from perfectly preserved ginger jars to tattered leather shoes. Archaeology is a means of decoding—what can materiality reveal from a hidden past? I take images and data from the report, fragments of this man’s lived history, and attempt to piece together glimpses of a life two hundred years before me.