| Contents |
Introduction, Comparable Skeletal Series, and Organization of Volume / P. Willey, Eric J. Bartelink, Peter Gavette, and Colleen F. Milligan -- Part I. Historical Context -- Historical Background of California and the San Francisco Bay Area / Lisa N. Bright -- Resurrectionists, Criminals, and the Unclaimed: History of Cadavers and the Study of Anatomy in the Nineteenth Century / Colleen F. Milligan -- The Role of US Army Surgeons and Their Contributions to the Army Medical Museum in the Post-Civil War Era (1865-1890) / Brian F. Spatola and Kristen E. Pearlstein -- A Surgeon among Surgeons: The Medical Staff at Point San Jose / Peter Gavette -- -- Part II. Archaeology -- Discovery, Excavation, and Context of Materials in the Point San Jose Pit / Peter Gavette and P. Willey -- What Civil War-Era Medicine Bottles Can Reveal about the Point San Jose Pit / Angela Locke Barton -- Faunal Remains: Food Waste and Animal Dissection at Point San Jose / Kasey E. Cole, Kelsie Hart, Cecily Merwin, and Alina Tichinin -- -- Part III. Human Osteology -- Taphonomy of Human Remains from Point San Jose Hospital, San Francisco / Mallory Peters, Jessica Curry, and Eric J. Bartelink -- Analysis of Commingled Human Remains and Element Representation from the Point San Jose Collection / Maria Cox, Valerie Sgheiza, Samuel A. Mijal, Kristen A. Broehl, Heather MacInnes, and Eric J. Bartelink -- -- Age, Sex, and Ancestry Estimations of the People from Point San Jose / Valerie Sgheiza and P. Willey -- Point San Jose Statures as Indications of Stress / P. Willey -- Isotopic Perspectives on Residence Patterns at Point San Jose / Eric J. Bartelink and Sarah A. Hall -- Diet Dissected: Isotopic Variation at Point San Jose / Sarah A. Hall, Julia Prince-Buitenhuys, and Eric J. Bartelink -- Paleopathology and Nonspecific Stress Indicators at Point San Jose / Colleen F. Milligan, Kristen A. Broehl, Kelsie Hart, Vanessa C. Reeves, Karin Wells, and Eric J. Bartelink -- Part IV. Conclusions -- Bodies Apart: Structural Violence and Dis/Embodiment at Point San Jose / Sarah A. Hall -- Conclusions and Future Research / Eric J. Bartelink, Peter Gavette, P. Willey, and Colleen F. Milligan. |
| Abstract |
"An archaeological site that tells a story of structural violence in medical researchIn 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 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. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen"-- Provided by publisher. |
