Abstract
Taking the articulation of bones as its main theme, this epilogue draws together the articles in this issue and discusses theoretical concerns relevant to anthropological analysis of the substance of bones. In particular, it examines bones as relational entities, whose forms and material properties emerge through the interactions which take place with them. With reference to the author’s own historical anthropological research on anatomy in Britain, discussed here in a wider European context, the epilogue explores the articulation of bones through metaphors and images, the relations between anatomical skeletons and memento mori and the assemblage of bones in ossuaries. It then discusses the interdependence of bones and embodied practices — the bones of the dead and the bodies of the living both mutually shaping one another — with reference to the articulation or making of skeletons by anatomists whose artisanal work with bones has not only generated knowledge but also entailed forceful emotional dynamics.
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