Resurrectionists' Excursions: Evidence of Postmortem Dissection from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Shannon A
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Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 39 Article 8 2010 Resurrectionists' Excursions: Evidence of Postmortem Dissection from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Shannon A. Novak Wesley Willoughby Follow this and additional works at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Novak, Shannon A. and Willoughby, Wesley (2010) "Resurrectionists' Excursions: Evidence of Postmortem Dissection from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 39 39, Article 8. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol39/iss1/8 Available at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol39/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. 134 Novak and Willoughby/Evidence of Postmortem Dissection from Spring Street Church Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 39, 2010 135 Resurrectionists’ Excursions: Evidence of Postmortem including those of inmates, the unclaimed, and the Newburgh Colored Burial Ground (1830– the destitute (Lusignan 2004). Similarly, the 1870) in New York who was similarly reconsti- Dissection from the Spring Street Presbyterian Church Charity Hospital Cemetery in New Orleans tuted for interment after a craniotomy had (1735–1811) held the bodies of 271 individuals been performed. coming from the indigent African American Similar concern for rearticulating the skel- Shannon A. Novak and Wesley Willoughby and white populations of the city. Many of eton is seen in Victorian England. From the In this paper we contextualize two unique individuals recovered from the historic Spring Street their bones displayed cuts associated with crypts of 18th- and 19th-century Christ Presbyterian Church burial vaults in lower Manhattan (ca. 1820-1846). The crania of one adolescent and one autopsy and other medical experiments Church, Spitalfields (1729–1852), Molleson and infant display clear evidence of a craniotomy. Both had complete circumferential incisions to remove the (Owsley 1995). Cox (1993: 89) identified seven autopsied indi- calvarium for internal examination. Both crania were sectioned using a saw, though the adolescent underwent Such unceremonial use and discard also viduals, including five adults and two chil- further postmortem preparation: thin scalpel marks indicate defleshing, and metal pins embedded in the has been identified in non-institutional ceme- dren. Brickley (2006: 146) also identified seven frontal and occipital bones would have facilitated disarticulation and rearticulation of the vault, presumably teries. In the 20th-century Dallas Freedman’s autopsied adults from the nearly contempora- for teaching. By the early 19th century, the illicit exhumation of graves to obtain cadavers for anatomical Cemetery, Davidson identified two dissected neous St. Martin’s churchyard, Birmingham. dissection was a widespread phenomenon and particularly prevalent in New York City. Though the bodies of and incomplete individuals in a single coffin. These latter cases are of particular interest criminals, the destitute, and the marginalized were often targeted, resurrectionists were opportunistic in their One individual had a craniotomy and his legs because they come from a middling-class con- pursuits. Thus, the presence of two dissected crania in the burial vaults of the Spring Street Presbyterian sawed off at the mid-femoral shafts. The gregation that lived and died in an urban area Church leads us to question how these remains came to be interred alongside members of the Spring Street second individual was missing their cranium undergoing rapid industrialization. Those congregation. Such an inquiry will require a closer examination of the social-historical context of the church and arm bones (Davidson 2007: 206). attending the Spring Street Presbyterian and its membership along with the physical evidence from the skeletal remains. Moreover, Davidson (2007: 407) suggests that, Church in Lower Manhattan experienced a as a final insult, the bodies were positioned in similar transformation. Dans cet article, nous mettons en contexte deux individus découverts dans les caveaux de la Spring a sexually suggestive manner. Also in this In this paper we hope to contribute to this Street Presbyterian Church à Manhattan (c. 1820-1846). Les crânes d’un adolescent et d’un enfant en bas cemetery, empty graveshafts and boxes attest relatively diffuse but growing literature by âge possèdent des traces incontestables d’une craniotomie. Les deux portent des marques d’incisions circon- to the selective targeting of this marginalized presenting two intriguing cases of cranioto- férentielles pratiquées afin d’enlever la calotte crânienne pour procéder à un examen interne. Les deux crânes African American population. mies from a historical abolitionist church in ont été coupés à l’aide d’une scie, bien que l’adolescent ait subit d’autres opérations post-mortem : de minces Similar targeting may have been directed New York City. The evidence for postmortem traces de scalpel indiquent que la chair a été enlevée et des broches métalliques insérées dans les os frontal et at the New York African Burial Ground, examination in the burial vaults of the Spring occipital auraient facilité la désarticulation et la ré-articulation, sans doute dans un contexte d’enseignement. although only one individual was found to Street Presbyterian Church (ca. 1820–1846) Au début du XIXe siècle, l’exhumation illégale de tombes pour obtenir des cadavres afin de pratiquer des dis- have been altered by postmortem examina- raises a number of questions. In particular we sections anatomiques était un phénomène répandu, particulièrement à New York. Bien que les corps des crim- tion. Burial 323 is intriguing for a number of would like to know if these individuals were inels, des démunis et des marginaux ont souvent été ciblés, les résurrectionnistes étaient opportunistes dans reasons. Based on morphological traits, the victims of resurrectionists’ excursions, and, if leurs activités. Ainsi, la présence de deux crânes disséqués dans les caveaux de la Spring Street Presbyterian adult male was identified as Caucasian and so, how their crania came to be interred in Church amène à nous interroger sur la façon dont les têtes de ces deux individus ont pu se retrouver enter- strontium analysis indicated that he was from vaults associated with an abolitionist congre- rées avec d’autres corps demeurés intacts. Pour répondre à cette question, il est nécessaire d’examiner de plus the local area (Blakey 2004: 10). These charac- gation. For such an inquiry, we need to know près le contexte socio-historique de l’église, en plus des preuves liées aux restes humains. teristics differed from the majority of the more about how our cases relate to (1) the remains analyzed, which were determined to prevalence of grave robbing as related to the The dissected body was nothing but a collec- given the prevalence of illicit dissection, be individuals of African ancestry who had practice and instruction of medicine, particu- tion of body parts and waste, a thing; potter’s archaeological evidence of “resurrectionist” migrated to the region. Burial 323 was also distinct larly in New York City; (2) the characteristics field was a dumping ground, a place of exclu- activities is uncommon. Notable cases of dis- in having his calvarium sawed off and in being of those individuals most likely to be exhumed sion. ... For working men and women, burial in buried holding the sectioned portion in his right arm illicitly for postmortem examination, the medical a cemetery or churchyard symbolized inclusion sected remains are reported in Blakley and in the social order. Harrington’s (1997) study of a 19th-century (Blakey 2004: 10–11). The rest of his skeleton, how- techniques used, and the subsequent fate of such medical school in Georgia, where the commin- ever, remained intact and unaltered. bodies; and (3) the progressive social and political –––Michael Sappol (2002) gled bones of 100 to 400 individuals were Other cases of postmortem alteration sug- philosophy of the Spring Street congregation. found in the basement. Douglas Owsley (2012, gest that there was a concerted effort to make We begin by briefly summarizing the dra- Introduction pers. comm.) reports another institutional set- the body whole again after scientific examina- matic physical and social changes taking ting, the Richmond Penitentiary in Virginia, tion. One of the earliest cases comes from St. place within the first half of the 19th century The illicit exhumation of bodies to obtain where the dissected remains of 18th- and 19th- Croix Island, Maine. Here, Crist and his col- in New York City and the historical land- cadavers for anatomical dissection was a wide- century inmates were disposed of in a well. leagues documented an early 17th-century scape from which the Spring Street spread phenomenon in Jacksonian America. Some institutions, however, afforded bodies case of a French settler who died of scurvy and Presbyterian Church emerged. We then Indeed, historical accounts confirm that grave somewhat more respectable interments after had his skull autopsied by the attending present the physical evidence for postmortem robbing was the primary means of specimen dissection. In New York, the Albany County barber-surgeon (Crist et al. 2004).