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Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Anatomical Dissection at a Nineteenth-Century Army Hospital in San Francisco

Online ISBN:
9781683403623
Print ISBN:
9781683402664
Publisher:
University Press of Florida
Book

Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Anatomical Dissection at a Nineteenth-Century Army Hospital in San Francisco

P. Willey (ed.),
P. Willey
(ed.)
California State University, Chico
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Peter Gavette (ed.),
Peter Gavette
(ed.)
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
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Eric J. Bartelink (ed.),
Eric J. Bartelink
(ed.)
California State University, Chico
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Colleen F. Milligan (ed.)
Colleen F. Milligan
(ed.)
California State University, Chico
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Published online:
21 September 2023
Published in print:
24 January 2023
Online ISBN:
9781683403623
Print ISBN:
9781683402664
Publisher:
University Press of Florida

Abstract

In 2010, a pit containing over 4,000 human skeletal elements was discovered at the site of the former Army hospital at Point San Jose in San Francisco. Local archaeologists determined that the bones, which were found alongside medical waste artifacts from the hospital, were remains from anatomical dissections conducted in the 1870s. As no records of these dissections exist, this volume turns to historical, archaeological, and bioarchaeological analysis to understand the function of the pit and the identities of the people represented in it. In these essays, contributors show how the human remains discovered are postmortem manifestations of social inequality, evidence that nineteenth-century surgical and anatomical research benefited from and perpetuated structural violence against marginalized individuals.

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