Autopsy or anatomical dissection? Comparative analysis of an osteoarchaeological sample from an 18-19th century hypogeal cemetery (northern Italy)

Abstract

Skeletal evidence of post-mortem procedures is not uncommon in paleopathological studies. This aspect is often overshadowed by the description of the pathology found due to the difficulty in differentiating the stigmata left on the bones from technically similar practices such as autopsy and dissection. The discovery of five crania of adult individuals exhibiting post-mortem lesions during the bioarchaeological recovery phases of the hypogeal cemetery of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Vercelli, northern Italy, has made it possible to investigate this diagnostic problem. In particular, it was possible to evaluate the expression of both autopsy and dissection cuts. The crania belonged to four males and one female, all with complete circumferential incisions and therefore referable to craniotomies. Considering both the diversity of the cuts -justifiable by the use of a different surgical instrumentation- and the location of the individual osteological findings -result of tampering after funerary disuse-, it was decided to develop a study on the post-mortem stigmata with the aim of distinguishing autopsy cuts from those caused by the practice of dissection.For the study of craniotomies, we considered both macro- and micro- characteristics of the cuts, using a morphological approach that included high-magnification photographs and the production of casts of the incisions and cutting surfaces.We studied features of the osteotomies -as direction of striae, color of the surfaces and the precision of the cutting planes followed- and of individual incisions like false stars, evaluating dips on the kerf floor, shape of walls and the presence of bone islands.In the light of the surveys carried out, we were able to divide the sample into three cases/scenarios: i) two crania deriving from an ordered bone grouping, removed by anthropic action from the original context of the position, which were didactic samples, with post-mortem cuts of the modern era; ii) two other crania, belonging to a caisson-ossuary and neatly arranged inside it, would seem to be compatible with anatomical dissection; iii) the last subject, belonging to a reduction, would fall into the autopsy category, a hypothesis supported by the suspected presence of a debilitating pathology.