[Demonstration of a cranial autopsy performed during the Great Plague of Marseille (1720-1722)]. / Mise en évidence d'une autopsie crânienne réalisée pendant la Grande Peste de Marseille (1720-1722).

ABSTRACT

The excavation of the mass grave from the Monastery of the Observance dating from the Great Plague of Marseilles revealed the first evidence of an autopsy on the skull of a 15-year-old boy, performed during the spring of 1722. The reconstruction of the skull allows us to reconstitute the anatomic technique used, which is identical to those described in a surgical book dating from 1708. This research highlights the interest in correlating the biological and historical archives, and brings new anthropological data to the debate on the contagious nature of the plague.