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From: FON Metaphysical and Spiritual Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 2:15 AM
Subject: {FONMSC} CCN: Archaeologists Find 300 Year Old African Spirit
Bundle in Maryland
To: Forces of Nature Metaphysical & Spiritual Center <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web address:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/
081021120755.htm
Archaeologists Find Unique, Early US Relic Of African Worship
enlarge
How the African bundle might have looked 300 years ago. (Credit: Brian
Payne, University of Maryland)
ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2008) — University of Maryland archaeologists
have dug up what they believe to be one of the earliest U.S. examples
of African spirit practices. The researchers say it's the only object
of its kind ever found by archaeologists in North America - a clay
"bundle" filled with small pieces of common metal, placed in what had
been an Annapolis street gutter three centuries ago.
The bundle appears to be a direct transplant of African religion,
distinct from hoodoo and other later practices blending African and
European traditions.
"This is a remarkably early piece, far different from anything I've
seen before in North America," says University of Maryland
anthropologist Mark Leone, who directs the Archaeology in Annapolis
project. "The bundle is African in design, not African-American. The
people who made this used local materials. But their knowledge of
charms and the spirit world probably came with them directly from
Africa."
About the size of a football, the compacted clay and sand bundle
originally sat in clear public view stationed in front of a house. X-
rays show the object served as a container holding hundreds of pieces
of lead shot, pins and nails intended to ward off or redirect spirits.
A prehistoric stone axe extends upward from the top of the bundle.
Leone dates the object to about 1700, plus or minus 20 years, from a
period when English beliefs in witchcraft could mingle more openly
with the African.
"We're particularly intrigued by the placement of this bundle in so
visible a spot, because it suggests an unexpected level of public
toleration," says Maryland's Leone. "All the previous caches of
African spirit practices we've found in Annapolis were at least fifty
years younger. These had been hidden away and used in secret. But in
this earlier generation, the Annapolis newspaper was filled with
references to English magic and witchcraft, so both European and
African spirit practices may have been more acceptable then. That
changed with the growing influence of the Enlightenment."
After consulting with experts on West and Central-West African
culture, Leone says the bundle might have origins in Liberia, Sierra
Leone or Guinea among Yoruba or Mande speakers. It may have been
fashioned in the image of a god and energized through its construction
to invoke and disseminate spiritual power.
Clay Bundle
The Maryland team discovered the bundle four feet below Fleet Street
in the Annapolis historic district - about 1,000 feet from the
Maryland statehouse. It sat in the gutter of a much earlier unpaved
street on a hill overlooking an inlet. Water would have run down the
gutter, making it a vital conduit for spirits and a strategic spot to
place a powerful charm, Leone says.
The bundle measures about 10 inches high, six inches wide and four
inches thick. It remains intact, held together by the sand and clay. X-
rays taken at the state of Maryland's conservation facility reveal the
bundle's contents - about 300 pieces of lead shot, 25 common pins and
a dozen nails. The blade of the stone axe points upward.
Originally, some kind of cloth or animal hide probably wound around
the bundle forming a pouch that held the metal objects. But it has
long since decomposed.
Interpretation
Leone immediately suspected that the object had African origins based
on the materials and the construction, which differed from the hoodoo
caches his teams have unearthed in Annapolis over the past two
decades. To help identify the object, Leone consulted with Frederick
Lamp, curator of African Art at the Yale University Art Gallery.
"The use of compacted clay and iron materials points to the African
origin of this bundle," Lamp says. "Combining these materials was
believed to increase the spiritual power of the objects."
Lamp adds that Mande groups, principally in Sierra Leone and Liberia,
used packed clay as binders when building spiritual objects. If Yoruba
in origin, the bundle would likely represent the image of Eshu Elegba,
the god of chance, confusion and unpredictability, the god of the
crossroads. The axe blade could replace the comb in other
representations of the Eshu, and it is also indicative of the power of
Shango, the god of thunder and the lightning bolt.
"We hope to open a scholarly debate," says Leone. "Further research
may help pinpoint the bundle's cultural origins. Whoever made this
understood that public invocations of magic were a source of social
control," Leone says. "It radiates power. The construction was
intended to amplify its influence over the spirit world."
English Magic
Before 1750, Annapolis' newspaper, The Maryland Gazette, frequently
cited many-headed monsters, witchcraft trials in Europe, misshapen
babies linked to magic, unaccounted appearances and disappearances and
the world of pagan, non-Christian belief, explains Leone.
"English witchcraft in this period existed openly in public and was
tolerated," he adds. "It's intriguing to speculate how English and
African spirit beliefs may have interacted and borrowed from each
other."
After 1750 though, the Gazette changed markedly. Leone says references
to magic disappeared and the paper reflected the changing philosophy
of the period.
Object of Display
Beginning October 21, the object is on display in the window of the
Banneker-Douglass Museum, the state of Maryland's Center for African-
American History and Culture.
The Annapolis Department of Public Works contracted for the
archaeological excavation along Fleet and Cornhill streets in the
city's historic district in advance of a project to lay underground
utility cables. The area was part of early Annapolis' waterfront.
"We've been committed for a long time to uncovering our state
capital's history, and yet the old never gets old, never ceases to
astound me," says Annapolis Mayor, Ellen Moyer. "This latest discovery
underscores just how deeply the city's European and African roots are
intertwined."
Adapted from materials provided by University of Maryland.
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of
the following formats:
APA
MLA
University of Maryland (2008, October 23). Archaeologists Find Unique,
Early US Relic Of African Worship. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 26,
2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/
2008/10/081021120755.htm
--
Philip Jones
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