Encountering evidence of postmortem examinations - dissection or autopsy
in historic skeletal collections is relatively rare, but recently there
has been an increase in the number of reported instances. And much of
what has been evaluated has been largely descriptive and historical. The
Bioarchaeology of Dissection and Autopsy brings together in a single
volume the skeletal evidence of postmortem examination in the United
States. Ranging from the early colonial period to the early 1900's, from
a coffeehouse at Colonial Williamsburg to a Quaker burial vault in lower
Manhattan, the contributions to this volume demonstrate the interpretive
significance of a historically and theoretically contextualized
bioarchaeology. The authors employ a wide range of perspectives,
demonstrating how bioarchaeological evidence can be used to address a
wide range of themes including social identity and marginalization,
racialization, the nature of the body and fragmentation, and the
emergence of medical practice and authority in the United States.