Artifacts of Religion and Magic

Sara Rivers-Cofield

For the December 8 CCASM meeting Sara Rivers-Cofield's talk was entitled "Artifacts of Religion and Magic: Interpreting the material culture of faith and the supernatural in Maryland".  She talked about artifacts that are associated with both organized religion, especially Catholicism, and practices that we would tend to refer to as ritual or superstition.  After telling us the anthropologist's definition of religion Sara described several religious medals found in Maryland and the history associated with each medal.   Next she talked about magical artifacts also found in Maryland, especially bent silver sixpences, and the various superstitions associated with them.  These religious and magical artifacts have been found in Maryland on sites occupied by people of European descent as well as on sites occupied by people of African descent.

 
images from jefpat.org

Sara Rivers-Cofield is the Curator of Federal Collections at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.  And Sara always brings artifacts so there is an opportunity to actually see some of the objects.

Religious Artifacts

Hands-on Time

Magical Artifacts

Attendance: 8

Archaeology Opportunity - Native American Town

Here an opportunity to do archaeological fieldwork and some field lab work as well as to be a part of an important research effort.

Beginning next week (Monday December 5-9) and continuing through the following Friday (December 12-16), Dr. Julie King, Scott Strickland, and St Mary's College of Maryland staff and students will be hosting volunteers at the probable site of Cecomocomoco - an important Native American town mapped by John Smith in 1608 - on Lower Brambly Farm in Chaptico (St. Mary's County).

The work will include shovel test pit excavation and some field processing of recovered material. Volunteers will be welcomed for any duration from a half-day up to the entire 10 days.

If this is of interest to you, it is important that you contact Dr. King (jking@smcm.edu) or her field director Scott Strickland (stricklandscottm@gmail.com) to reserve a place on the crew. Directions and information regarding local accommodations, etc., will be supplied with their response.

Note that one of the sponsors is the Archeological Society of Maryland (ASM), and CCASM is a chapter of ASM. 

St Mary's City Field Session

November 14-17 volunteers had an opportunity to work with archaeologists from St. Mary's College of Maryland with the excavation of an 18th-century domestic site in St Mary's City.  Plans are for a stadium to be erected in this area so it is important to learn what was there.

Hours spent volunteering could be credited towards the Certified Archeological Technician (CAT) program offered by the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM).  Several ASM members including one that was also a CCASM member took advantage of this opportunity.  It's always interesting to see the slight differences in the methods used by different investigators.  And, of course, who doesn't like to look for artifacts and features on a clear fall day.   

Dr. Julie King is the principal investigator, and Dr Lauren McMillan is in charge of the field work.  Both are with St. Mary's College of Maryland.  Also the St. Mary's Archaeological Society of Maryland, a chapter of ASM, was instrumental in having this Field Session as part of the mitigation work being done.

Eastern Woodlands Indians Traveling Trunk

Julie Hall

November is Native American Heritage Month.  At the CCASM November 10 meeting Julie Hall brought one of the Eastern Woodland Indians of Maryland Traveling Trunks that Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM) had created.  The trunk contained artifact reproductions associated with Eastern Woodland Indians as well as lesson plans developed to meet Maryland's current Voluntary State Curriculum for the 4th grade.  But as you can see, you don't have to be a fourth grader to want to check out what is in the trunk.  We also handled some of the artifacts as we completed two exercises and learned how much we did or did not know about how the artifacts were used in early Native American life.

Julie Hall is the JPPM Education Coordinator.  The trunks can be rented at a minimal cost for one month's use in a classroom or for outreach.  Julie indicated many Calvert County schools make use or this resource but very few Charles County schools do.

Setting up

During Talk with Artifacts laid out on table

Hands-on Time

Attendance: 9

Field Session at St Mary's City

Come assist archaeologists from St. Mary's College of Maryland with the excavation of an 18th-century domestic site.  Find artifacts like ceramics and bottle glass and search for archaeological features associated with structures and yard spaces.

Monday, Nov 14 - Thursday, Nov 17 (8am-4pm)
St. Mary's City, MD

To volunteer and to find out the location of site, please RSVP to either
   Dr. Julie King (jking@smcm.edu),
   Dr. Lauren McMillan (lkmcmillan@smcm.edu) or
   Chris Coogan (clcoogan@smcm.edu)
with dates and times for which you plan to attend.

Hours spent volunteering may be credited towards the Certified Archeological Technician (CAT) program.  More information about the CAT program can be found at: http://marylandarcheology.org/CAT_Program.php

This Field Session is being offered by St. Mary's College of Maryland and the St. Mary's Archaeological Society of Maryland, a chapter of ASM.