The Archaeology of American Medicine and Healthcare

Examining the dynamic histories of medical practice in

the United States through the lens of historical archaeology



In this book,

Meredith Reifschneider synthesizes archaeological research on healthcare and

medicine to show how practices in the United States have evolved since the

nineteenth century. Tracing the areas of medical science and healthcare

professionalization, alternative medicine, healthcare consumerism, and public

health reform, Reifschneider shows how historical archaeology--which draws on information

from the material record, archival sources, historical documents, and

ethnographic research--can provide important insights into healthcare and modes

of self-care in the past.

Reifschneider analyzes

archaeological evidence uncovered from sites such as house deposits, middens,

latrines, and hospital waste pits that demonstrates how official healthcare policies

were implemented in daily life, revealing a diversity of therapeutic practices connected

to social identities. The book includes a case study of the US Army's hygiene

and healthcare practices at the Presidio of San Francisco, showing how soldiers

engaged in practices mandated by the government while also using alternative

therapies for self-care.

Throughout the

book, Reifschneider highlights structural health inequalities in the past and

how the effects of previous exclusionary policies continue to manifest in the

present day. By examining healthcare and medicine through the lens of

archaeology, this book demonstrates the dynamic and often unexpected histories of

medical practice, pointing to the ways Americans' experiences today reflect

these historical dynamics.



A volume in the

series the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective, edited by Michael

S. Nassaney and Krysta Ryzewski