On Fri, 9 May 1997, Homer Thiel wrote:
 
> Tim Eaton wrote:
>
>  One subject which would interest me is the idea that social deviancy could be
 p
> unished by mortuary segregation, or perhaps a particular method of burial... a
ny
> one
> got any ideas on that?
>
> An 1876 article from the Arizona Weekly Citizen (Tucson) reveals one such situ
at
> ion:
>
> "Quite a stir was created here last Sunday by the finding of the dead body of
a
> man just south of town. Many people including Coroner Smith went to view it. T
he
>  head was gone and it was generally much decayed. It could not be identified b
y
> anything about it. Next day Coroner Smith informed us that he had satisfied hi
ms
> elf it was the body of a man who died last year and was refused burial by his
Ch
> urch and also by the civil authorities, and that to get rid of it, it was carr
ie
> d and deposited in a shallow arroyo and perhaps at the time slightly covered.
Ma
> ny of the people of Tucson will readily remember the case, and it is to be hop
ed
>  that a similar one will not be permitted to occur again, because whatever fai
li
> ngs a man may have when alive, his dead body should be properly buried or, as
so
> me modern reformers would prefer--cremated" (15 July 1876)
>
> On two occasions in the last five years archaeologists have discovered isolate
d
> historic burials. In one case, two adult males had been buried together. The p
re
> sence of a Native American projectile point in the vertebrae of one individual
 a
> nd the unusual positioning of their arms (suggesting rigor mortis had taken pl
ac
> e before the bodies were arranged) indicated these men had been killed by loca
l
> Native Americans and subsequently buried outside the only consecrated cemetery
 i
> n use at that time (probably in the 1850s). It is thought that the bodies were
 f
> ound by Tucson residents, but they were unsure who they were and so did not bu
ri
> ed them in the Presidio cemetery.
>
> In the other case, an adult male was buried about a 1/2 mile from the nearest
ce
> metery. No evidence for cause of death in this case and the individual had bee
n
> wrapped in a shroud and was wearing clothes.
>
In researching such fun topics as human dissection and grave robbing for
the Medical College of Georgia Project, we at Georgia State University
came across much historical info describing how dissection was carried out
on criminals only.  Back before "modern" times, dissection was generally
outlawed and only a few people, preceptors, were allowed to dissect.  This
was usually done in front of the medical students, so they could learn
about the human body!  (No hands on, there!)  Because "destruction" of the
body was considered immoral, a posthumous discrace, and a sure bet to NOT
get you into heaven, there was an abhorence of dissection.  So, only
criminals who had been condemned to death were dissected.  Actually, these
people were usually more afraid of the sentence of dissection than that of
hanging!  So, yes, sometimes criminals WERE treated differently, although
I don't remember reading anything about where the remains were later
buried.  Many of them, I know, ended up (as skeletons) in specimen
laboratories of the doctors who did the dissection.
 
(Of course, this doesn't even BEGIN to address the subject of differential
burial of different social, racial, etc. classes, a subject dear to our
hearts here at the MCG project.)
 
Judith Harrington
Dept. Anthropology
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA 30303