Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Renaissance Anatomy in the Americas: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the Earliest Skeletal Evidence of Autopsy in the New World

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Bioarchaeology of Dissection and Autopsy in the United States

Part of the book series: Bioarchaeology and Social Theory ((BST))

Abstract

The discovery of an autopsied colonist who was buried at Saint Croix Island in New France during the winter of 1604–1605 provides a unique opportunity to explore the practice of autopsy in late Renaissance Europe and its transmission to the New World in the Age of Discovery. Currently representing the earliest skeletal evidence of autopsy found in the Americas, this young man’s remains reflect the changing attitudes towards the corpse in Europe that began in the thirteenth century and were promulgated through the Reformation in the 1500s as the Roman Catholic Church’s loosened restrictions on autopsy and dissection coincided with the increasing availability of printed books on anatomy. Combining the skeletal evidence with Samuel de Champlain’s eyewitness accounts, this chapter adopts a biocultural approach to address the issues of social organization, inequality, and marginalization among the 79 stranded Acadian colonists as they faced a deadly crisis of scurvy and starvation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The severity of the winter was exacerbated compared to modern times by what has been termed the “Little Ice Age,” a period of colder than average temperatures, and longer than average winters (Grove 2001).

  2. 2.

    The description of dry lungs, watery spleen, and black, clotted blood suggests that the autopsy might have been delayed for some time after death, and that the body had been frozen and then thawed for autopsy.

References

  • Agarwal, S. C., & Glencross, B. A. (Eds.). (2011). Social bioarchaeology. Chichester, West Sussex: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alston, M. N. (1944). The attitude of the Church towards dissection before 1500. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 16, 221–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aufderheide, A. C., & Rodríguez-Martín, C. (1998). The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biesbrouck, M., & Steeno, O. (2010). The last months of Andreas Vesalius. Vesalius, 16(2), 100–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biesbrouck, M., & Steeno, O. (2011). The last months of Andreas Vesalius: Part II-from Jerusalem to Zakynthos (Zante). Vesalius, 17(1), 30–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggar, H. P. (1901). The early trading companies of New France. Toronto: University of Toronto Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggar, H. P. (1911). The precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497–1534, A collection of documents relating to the early history of the Dominion of Canada. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, E. A. R. (1981). Death and the human body in the later Middle Ages: The legislation of Boniface VIII on the division of the corpse. Viator, 12, 221–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, E. A. R. (1990). Authority, the family, and the dead in late medieval France. French Historical Studies, 16(4), 803–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buikstra, J. E., & Ubelaker, D. H. (Eds.). (1994). Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains (Research series No. 44). Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlino, A. (1999). Books of the body: Anatomical ritual and Renaissance learning (J. Tedeschi & A. C. Tedeschi, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartier, J. (1924 [1545]). The voyages of Jacques Cartier (H. P. Biggar, Trans.). (Publications of the Public Archives of Canada, Vol. 11). Ottawa: Acland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cazort, M. (1996). The theatre of the body. In M. Cazort, M. Kornell, & K. B. Roberts (Eds.), The ingenious machine of nature: Four centuries of art and anatomy (pp. 11–42). Ottawa: National Gallery of Ottawa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champlain, S. (1922 [1613]). Les voyages, Book I (1604–1607) (W. F. Ganong, Trans.). In H. P. Biggar (Ed.), The works of Samuel de Champlain (Vol. 1, pp. 204–469). Toronto: The Champlain Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Champlain, S. (1925 [1613]). Les voyages, Book II (1608–1612) (J. Squair, Trans.). In H. P. Biggar (Ed.), The works of Samuel de Champlain (Vol. 2, pp. 1–236). Toronto: The Champlain Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charlier, P., Huynh-Charlier, I., Poupon, J., Lancelot, E., Campos, P. F., Favier, D., et al. (2014). A glimpse into the early origins of medieval anatomy through the oldest conserved human dissection (Western Europe, 13th c. A.D.). Archives of Medical Science, 10(2), 366–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavarría, A. P., & Shipley, P. G. (1924). The Siamese twins of Española. Annals of Medical History, 6, 297–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crist, T. A. (1998). Scurvy, the skeleton, and Samuel de Champlain: A bioarchaeological investigation of vitamin C deficiency. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Temple University. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crist, T. A., & Sorg, M. H. (2014). Adult scurvy in New France: Samuel de Champlain’s “mal de la terre” at Saint Croix Island, 1604–1605. International Journal of Paleopathology, 5, 95–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crist, T. A., Sorg, M. H., Larocque, R. L., Crist, M. H., & Benson, J. M. (2012). The skeletons. In S. R. Pendery (Ed.), Saint Croix Island, Maine: History, archaeology, and interpretation (Occasional papers in Maine archaeology, Vol. 14, pp. 185–222). Augusta: Maine Historical Preservation Commission and Maine Archaeological Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crivellato, E., & Ribatti, D. (2006). Mondino de’Liuzzi and his Anothomia: A milestone in the development of modern anatomy. Clinical Anatomy, 19(7), 581–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, S. (1961). An experiment in “feudalism”: French Canada in the seventeenth century. The William and Mary Quarterly, 18(1), 3–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drucker, C. B. (2008). Ambroise Paré and the birth of the gentle art of surgery. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 81(4), 199–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Druett, J. (2001). Rough medicine: Surgeons at sea in the age of sail. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornaciari, G., Giuffra, V., Giusiani, S., Fornaciari, A., Marchesini, M., & Vitiello, A. (2008). Autopsy and embalming of the Medici grand dukes of Florence (16th–18th centuries). In P. Atoche-Peña, C. Rodríguez-Martín, & A. R. Rodríguez (Eds.), Mummies and science: World mummies research, Proceedings of the VI World Congress on Mummy Studies (pp. 325–331). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Academia Canaria de la Ciencia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Furdell, E. L. (2002). Publishing and medicine in early modern England. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Folger Shakespeare Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grendler, P. F. (2004). The universities of the Renaissance and Reformation. Renaissance Quarterly, 57(1), 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grove, J. M. (2001). The initiation of the “Little Ice Age” in regions round the North Atlantic. In A. E. J. Ogilvie & T. Jónsson (Eds.), The iceberg in the mist: Northern research in pursuit of a “Little Ice Age” (pp. 53–82). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, J. W. (1970). The French settlement on St. Croix Island, Maine: Excavations for the National Park Service, 1968–1969. Contract No. 14-10-5-950-23. Boston: National Park Service, North Atlantic Regional Office. Ms. on file.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, J. W. (n.d.). Champlain’s dead: The cemetery at St. Croix. Philadelphia: Department of Anthropology, Temple University. Ms. on file.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadlock, W. S. (1950). Preliminary archeological exploration at St. Croix Island. Boston: National Park Service North Atlantic Regional Office. Ms. on file.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrington, J. C., & Hadlock, W. S. (1951). Preliminary archeological explorations on St. Croix Island, Maine, St. Croix Island National Monument (project). Boston: National Park Service North Atlantic Regional Office. Ms. on file.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hektoen, L. (1926). Early postmortem examinations by Europeans in America. Journal of the American Medical Association, 86(8), 576–577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellman, C. D. (1955). Science in the Renaissance: A survey. Renaissance News, 8(4), 186–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jardine, L. (1996). Worldly goods: A new history of the Renaissance. London: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jimenez, F. A. (1977). The first hospital in the New World. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 53(10), 906–910.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jimenez, F. A. (1978). The first autopsy in the New World. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 54(6), 618–619.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelso, W. M. (2006). Jamestown, The buried truth. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klestinec, C. (2007). Civility, comportment, and the anatomy theater: Girolamo Fabrici and his medical students in Renaissance Paris. Renaissance Quarterly, 60(2), 434–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knecht, R. J. (2001). The rise and fall of Renaissance France: 1483–1610. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Floch-Prigent, P., Bonnichon, P., & Pariente, D. (2009). The death of the King Henry IV (May 14th, 1610). Analysis of the report of postmortem examination of Jacques Guillemeau. Histoire des Sciences Médicales, 43(2), 177–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lescarbot, M. (1911 [1609]). The history of New France, Books III and IV (W. L. Grant, Trans.) (Vol. 2). Toronto: The Champlain Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindemann, M. (2010). Medicine and society in early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G. (2001). The death of Henry II of France: A sporting death and post-mortem. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 71(5), 318–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore-Jansen, P. H., Ousley, S. D., & Jantz, R. L. (1994). Data collection procedures for forensic skeletal material (Report of investigations 3rd ed., Vol. 48). Knoxville: University of Tennessee.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, E. M. (Ed.). (2008). Deviant burial in the archaeological record. Oxford: Oxbow.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill, Y. V. (1976). Innocent III and the evolution of anatomy. Medical History, 20, 429–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortner, D. J. (2003). Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains (2nd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paleopathology Association. (1991). Skeletal database committee recommendations. Detroit: Paleopathology Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, K. (1994). The criminal and the saintly body: Autopsy and dissection in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance Quarterly, 47(1), 1–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, K. (1995). The life of the corpse: Division and dissection in late medieval Europe. Journal of History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 50, 111–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, K. (2009). Myth 5: That the medieval Church prohibited human dissection. In R. Numbers (Ed.), Galileo goes to jail and other myths in the history of science and religion (pp. 43–50). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pendery, J. S. (2012). 1604-1605 Pierre Dugua, sieur de Mons, expedition biographies. In S. R. Pendery (Ed.), Saint Croix Island, Maine: History, archaeology, and interpretation (Occasional papers in Maine archaeology, Vol. 14, pp. 269–278). Augusta: Maine Historical Preservation Commission and Maine Archaeological Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pendery, S. R. (Ed.). (2012). Saint Croix Island, Maine: History, archaeology, and interpretation (Occasional papers in Maine archaeology, Vol. 14). Augusta: Maine Historical Preservation Commission and Maine Archaeological Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prioreschi, P. (2001). Determinants of the revival of dissection of the human body in the middle ages. Medical Hypotheses, 56(2), 229–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, J. H. M. (1987). Renaissance and revolt: Essays in the intellectual and social history of early modern France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sawday, J. (1995). The body emblazoned: Dissection and the human body in Renaissance culture. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentin, F., & d’Errico, F. (1995). Skeletal evidence of operations on cadavers from Sens (Yonne, France) at the end of the XVth century. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 98, 375–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldron, T., & Rogers, J. (1987). Iatrogenic palaeopathology. Journal of Paleopathology, 1(3), 117–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winthrop, J. (1853). The history of New England from 1630 to 1649 (Vol. 1). Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The US National Park Service provided the funding for the excavations at Saint Croix Island in 1969 and again in 2003. We would like to thank Steven Pendery and Lee Terzis, both formerly of the US National Park Service, who directed the 2003 excavations. We also appreciate the dedication and skills of the archaeologists from Temple University, the US National Park Service, and the University of Maine who conducted the excavations. Beginning in 1992, Arthur Washburn and Muriel Kirkpatrick provided invaluable assistance with the analysis of the skeletal remains at Temple University, as did Jacob Gruber who shared his memories of the 1969 excavations that he directed. Ted Rathbun, Leonard Greenfield, Mary Barbe, John Seidel, Frank Saul, George Maat, Donald Ortner, Peer Moore-Jansen, John Benson, Robert Larocque, David Sanger, Daniel Roberts, and John Cotter all generously supported and assisted with the Saint Croix Island project. We also thank John Johnsen, Utica College Provost, for his consistent support. Kevin Waldron, Director of Graphic Design at Utica College, produced the images for this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programs in Physical Therapy and Sociology/Anthropology, Utica College, 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica, NY, 13502, USA

    Thomas A. Crist

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Maine, 5773 South Stevens Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Marcella H. Sorg

Authors
  1. Thomas A. Crist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marcella H. Sorg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas A. Crist .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, USA

    Kenneth C. Nystrom

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Crist, T.A., Sorg, M.H. (2017). Renaissance Anatomy in the Americas: A Bioarchaeological Perspective on the Earliest Skeletal Evidence of Autopsy in the New World. 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_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26836-1_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26834-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26836-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation