Anthropology, Education, Sociology, and Social Phenomena

Grave Robbing

Stealing of corpses after burial, especially for medical dissection. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in the absence of laws governing the acquisition of dissecting material for the study of anatomy, the needs of anatomy classes were met by surreptitious methods: body-snatching and grave robbing. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed; from Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p447; from Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2d ed, p676)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

Stealing of corpses after burial, especially for medical dissection. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in the absence of laws governing the acquisition of dissecting material for the study of anatomy, the needs of anatomy classes were met by surreptitious methods: body-snatching and grave robbing. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed; from Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p447; from Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, 2d ed, p676)

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Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

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MeSH Record

Synonyms

5 entry terms
  • Grave Robbery
  • Grave Robberies
  • Robberies, Grave
  • Robbery, Grave
  • Robbing, Grave

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

3 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings ethics, history, legislation & jurisprudence.

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Indexing Annotation

usually in historical contexts; check appropriate history tags if pertinent

MeSH Record

History Note

97

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Number

  1. I01w.198w.240w.385w

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

WZ 320

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Grave Robbing. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D019356. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D019356
  2. Grave Robbing. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_snatching
  3. Grave Robbing. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q262115