Abstract
In 2002, the Cultural Resource Survey Program of the New York State Museum carried out excavations of the Albany County Almshouse cemetery (1828–1926) to pave the way for a new biomedical research facility. 1427 skeletons were exhumed; however, due to detrimental environmental conditions, 903 skeletons were in good condition to be included in this study. Of those, 51 of these individuals showed evidence of postmortem cuts to either the crania and/or to long bones; 15 were female, 30 male with age ranges from subadult to the elderly.
Individuals that were buried in this cemetery included inmates of the almshouse, unclaimed individuals, and individuals from the nearby penitentiary. By utilizing archaeological, osteological, and historical analyses to provide insight into the social and historical aspects of medical training practices on the poor, the realization is that Albany Medical College was exploiting these individuals in an effort to teach anatomy.
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the New York State Museum for access to the data and photos from the Albany County Almshouse Cemetery Excavation. I would also like to thank the University at Albany Anthropology Department in assistance with my master’s thesis as well as the reviewers of this chapter for their feedback.
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Lowe, K.L. (2017). A Historical and Osteological Analysis of Postmortem Medical Practices from the Albany County Almshouse Cemetery Skeletal Sample in Albany, New York. In: Nystrom, K. (eds) The Bioarchaeology of Dissection and Autopsy in the United States. Bioarchaeology and Social Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26836-1_15
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