Citation

Crossland Z. Am. Anthropol. 2009; 111(1): 69-80.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Anthropological Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01078.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Taking the conflict over the remains of Ned Kelly as a starting point, in this article I trace the various conceptions of the, body as evidence within the intertwined histories of anthropology, criminology, and medicine to explore how anthropological practice brings the dead into being through exhumation and analysis. I outline the popular rhetorical tropes within which evidentiary claims are situated, exploring how the agency of people after death is understood within the framework of present-day forensic anthropological practice and how this is underwritten by a particular heritage of anatomical analysis. [Keywords: archaeology, forensic anthropology, materiality, semiotics of the body]