ANTHROPOLOGIE
International Journal of Human Diversity and Evolution
 
Coverage: 1923-1941 (Vols. I-XIX) & 1962-2026 (Vols. 1-64)
ISSN 0323-1119 (Print)
ISSN 2570-9127 (Online)
Journal Impact Factor 0.2
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Full text of article
'Cvrček J, Trnka J, Zazvonilová E, Kapusta J, Mikulec J, Velemínský P, 2026: AUTOPSY EVIDENCE ON SKELETAL REMAINS FROM THE DISCALCED CARMELITE MONASTERY IN PRAGUE AND THE BENEDICTINE MONASTERY IN KLADRUBY (17th–18th CENTURIES). Anthropologie (Brno) 64, 2: 0-0'.
 
Abstract
Although research into the history of autopsies in Central Europe has advanced in recent years, the current state of knowledge remains insufficient due both to the low number of historical written sources, and insufficient research in the fields of osteobiography and paleopathology. This is particularly true of autopsies performed outside the Faculty of Medicine in Prague—their circumstances, frequencies, techniques, or even the biographies of the doctors involved— and especially in the context of the Roman Catholic Church in the Baroque period, for which a relatively large number of written sources exist compared to earlier periods. This paper presents and analyzes evidence of autopsies in skeletal remains from the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Prague's Lesser Town and the Benedictine Monastery in Kladruby in the 17th to 18th centuries. In Prague, the remains of approximately two hundred individuals included those of a child aged 3–4 years and a male aged 30–40 years, both with a perimortem horizontal section of the skull. Additional autopsies of people buried at this church were mentioned in monastic records and other archival sources. At Kladruby, sectioning of the skull was found in one of the one hundred and eleven monks interred, aged 50–60 years, but no significant skeletal pathologies were found in any of these individuals. This pilot study significantly advances our knowledge of this topic, but at the same time raises a number of new biological, historical, and sociocultural questions.
 
Keywords
Church – Baroque – Medicine – Crypt – Autopsy – Osteobiography
 
 
 
 

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