Standard Grant: The Role of Skeletons in the Development of Anatomical Knowledge

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

This project will study the beginning of anatomical knowledge when skeletons were objects of intensive study by scientists and artists, in order to document how modern ideas of anatomy and physiology emerged. The project will trace how the skeleton's meaning has been defined by social, political, and religious attitudes toward the body in order to contribute to current debates about the exhibition and repatriation of human remains. This project will examine the making, representing, marketing, displaying, and collecting of human bones and skeletons. This project will study evidence from scientific and popular written sources as well as archaeological evidence to contribute to discussions in the history of science and medicine, art history, archaeology, and historical anthropology. Findings of this project will be dissemination in a book, open - access databases on early modern anatomy and collecting, and a conference on human remains and their deposition. The work will broaden our understanding of the range of practices of early modern life sciences and their close connections to religion and popular culture. In addition, it will enrich the historiography of early modern science and expand its resource base with the inclusion of material artifacts.