Early 19th Century Anatomical Instruction at Harvard Medical School: A Bioarchaeological Study of Human Remains from Holden Chapel, Harvard University

Summary

This paper reports recent study of anatomized human remains and artifacts from a trash feature beneath Holden Chapel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, once home to Harvard University’s medical school. The building housed medical instruction from 1801 until 1825 and was used for periodic anatomical lectures until the 1860s. During a 1999 renovation, archaeologists recovered more than 2700 objects, including scientific equipment, domestic artifacts, and faunal remains, from a defunct dry well in Holden’s basement. Mingled with this debris were over 900 fragments of human remains representing at least four juveniles and twelve adults. Analysis of these remains in conjunction with archived lecture notes of the first medical school faculty, institutional records, and instructional works on anatomy permits us to connect the condition of material remains and instructional purpose. Observed cuts on sectioned bones are consistent with amputation techniques and methods of anatomical preparation. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy documents heavy metals used for preservation. Evidence of material interactions between scholar and cadaver also reveal the social impacts of anatomization. The Holden Chapel collection offers unique insights into the practice of early modern anatomical instruction, as well as ways in which medical authority was bound with notions of ethics and personhood.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage