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Grave Robbing
April 1, 2012 | | Comments Off on Grave Robbing
Due to increased religious skepticism, science became popularized during the Enlightenment; anyone could do science. Physics and anatomy were heavily focused on, and grave robbing was a popular method for learning more about and examining the human body. One famous grave that was disrupted was that of Mozart, whose skull was stolen.
“In the early twentieth century the Salzburg Mozarteum was presented with a rather morbid gift: Mozart’s skull. It was alleged that a gravedigger had rescued the skull during the ‘re-organisation’ of the composer’s grave. Although scientific testing has been unable to either confirm or deny that the bone is Mozart’s, there is enough evidence on the skull to determine a cause of death (chronic haematoma), which would be consistent with Mozart’s symptoms before death. Several medical theories about the exact cause of Mozart’s demise – another great mystery surrounding him – have been developed using the skull as evidence.”
(source: Wilde, Robert. Location of Mozart’s Grave. About.com. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/famouspeople/a/dyk11.htm)
-Gabriela Burgos
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