Empowered Objects: Material Expressions of Spiritual Beliefs in the Colonial Chesapeake Region

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Michael T. Lucas

Empowered Objects: Material Expressions of Spiritual Beliefs in the Colonial Chesapeake RegionABSTRACT

Pierced and bent coins, quartz crystals and other stones, metal objects, religious artifacts, beads, and mirrors are a few examples of objects used in European, African, and Native American cultural expressions. Associating objects with a particular ethnicity without disentangling the overlapping cultural contexts in which Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans lived would fall short of understanding the full range of meanings associated with those objects. Cultural interaction and conflict among these groups influenced the material expression of spiritual beliefs in the Chesapeake region during the 17th century. Numerous artifacts, recovered from two adjacent sites in Prince George’s County, Maryland, dating from 1680 to 1720, have been pierced or intentionally buried within buildings. The role of intentionality and the interaction among Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans are examined as key components for interpreting expressions of spiritual beliefs in the colonial Chesapeake region.

Introduction

Excavations between 1998 and 2011 at an English colonial town site called Charles Town, in present-day Prince George’s County, Maryland, resulted in the recovery of numerous objects often used in expressions of spiritual beliefs. Pierced coins, a pierced stone disk, glass beads, cowrie shells, carved stones, and other artifacts recovered from two archaeological sites dating between 1680 and 1720 represent a group of objects that cannot easily be defined within strict ethnic or religious categories. The overall composition of artifacts, site histories, and archaeological stratig-raphy converge to form contexts for interpreting cultural expressions that are resistant to formulaic conclusions.

Archaeologists concentrating on African and African American religious practices have pro-duced a rich contribution to studies of the African diaspora in the past two decades (Wilkie 1995,

1997; Samford 1996; Cochran 1999; Ferguson 1999; Jones 1999; Leone and Fry 1999; Leone 2005:199–244; Fennell 2007a, 2007b, 2011:34–36; Schablitsky 2011). Fewer studies have focused on European traditions that fall at or beyond the mar-gins of organized religious institutions (Merrifield 1987; King 1996:28–29; Davidson 2004; Hoggard 2004; Becker 2005; Fennell 2007b; McKitrick 2009; Rivers Cofield 2010). The colonial Chesa-peake region is well suited for studies that exam-ine African and European spiritual practices, points where those practices coalesce, the impact of encounters with Native Americans, and the broader processes of creolization and hybridization (Mouer 1993; Dawdy 2000; Delle 2000; Groover 2000). This was especially true during the 17th century, as population increase and land speculation created more opportunities for contact and conflict. The difficulty lies in interpreting the impact of these cultural encounters using archaeological data.

Another interpretive problem is the fact that the archaeological record is not always easily assigned to one particular user or cultural group. Archaeological assemblages are readily ascribed to people of African descent when recovered from 19th-century slave-quarter sites. Attributing assem-blages to a particular ethnic group is much more problematic in the colonial Chesapeake, where European indentured servants or overseers, and enslaved Africans often lived at the same quarter, if not the same building, before the last decades of the 17th century (Walsh 2010:245). Work areas on many plantations were regularly used by both Europeans and Africans. Large planters began to create separate housing for indentured servants and slaves during the last quarter of the 17th cen-tury (Walsh 2010:380–381). Africans also sought refuge from bondage by escaping to the confines of Native American villages and, in the process, complicating the interpretation of the archaeologi-cal record (Kulikoff 1986:328). The aim of this article is to illustrate, not solve, some of these interpretive dilemmas relating to the expression of cultural beliefs in the Chesapeake region between 1680 and 1720.

My conclusions follow other efforts that stress caution and careful contextual reconstruction when interpreting objects that appear to be associated

Historical Archaeology, 2014, 48(3):106–124.Permission to reprint required.

107MICHAEL T. LUCAS—Empowered Objects: Material Expressions of Spiritual Beliefs

with spiritual or other cultural practices (Fesler and Franklin 1999:1–4; Heath 1999:48; Fennell 2000, 2007b; Orser 2008:51–56; Heath and Breen 2009:4–7; Davidson 2014). Careful contextual-ization decreases the possibility of uncritically assigning discrete classes of artifacts to particular ethnic groups (Fesler and Franklin 1999:3–4). The problem is essentially one of determining or assigning agency. Who were the agents who cre-ated, modified, and used objects recovered from the archaeological record? What intended pur-poses can be reliably assigned to those artifacts? A wide range of scholarship has been produced using agency as a framework to consider group vs. individual expressions, intentionality, power, action, and artifacts as agents (Dobres and Robb 2000:10–13; Dornan 2002; Gardner 2004, 2008). Andrew Gardner (2008:96) offers an instructive approach in his claim that “what allows humans to fulfill their capacity for agency is their rela-tionships (involvement) with other people and objects.” Archaeological examples from Charles Town demonstrate this complex interplay of people and material objects.

African and European Spiritual Practices in the Early Chesapeake

Efforts to suppress rituals associated with magic and witchcraft in England during the Protestant Reformation achieved limited success, as people continued to embrace familiar prac-tices not always aligned with church doctrine and in turn brought those practices to the New World (Godbeer 1992:27–30). As Ralph Mer-rifield (1987:107) wrote: “Old rituals die hard.” In fact, archaeological evidence from England suggests the continued observance of rituals associated with witchcraft and popular magic into the 20th century (Hoggard 2004:168). Cun-ning folk, charmers, and others who practiced secular magic were common in early modern Europe and America (Godbeer 1992:30–31; Davies 2008:185). Even some Roman Catholic clergy stepped beyond sanctioned rituals into cunning practices, such as love charms or thief detection (De Blécourt 1994:299–300). Protestant Reformation attempts to sweep aside Catholic ritual functions, such as the monastery’s role as a healing institution, may have encouraged the use of traditional magical healers (Valletta 2000:16).

English settlers brought commonly held beliefs about witchcraft, magic, and other supernatural phenomena with them to the Chesapeake region (Horn 1994:413–415). These beliefs are mani-fest in the archaeological record in the form of witch bottles, pierced and bent coins, and other material culture (King 1996:28–29; Becker 2005; McKitrick 2009; Rivers Cofield 2010). In par-ticular, pierced or otherwise altered coins have been recovered on many early colonial sites in Maryland (McKitrick 2009; Rivers Cofield 2010, this issue). At least as far back as the 16th century perforated coins were used by the English for working magic and preventing harm (Davidson 2004:30). Archaeologist James David-son (2004:28–30) argues that late-16th-century three- and sixpence coins were particularly powerful because of the cross on the coins, the fact that they were silver, and the post-manufacture alteration that transformed the coins into potent instruments against evil and witch-craft (Figure 1). The process of bending coins, tokens, swords, and other metal objects imbued those artifacts with a variety of new meanings from lucky pieces to votive offerings (Merrifield 1987:111–116; Rivers Cofield 2010:64–65).

Africans also brought religious beliefs and associated rituals with them to the Chesapeake region. Tobacco was the primary Chesapeake commodity, and its cultivation required a tremendous amount of physical labor. Charles Town existed during a time when the regional labor force transit ioned from indentured servitude and was transformed from a “society with slaves” to a “slave society” (Carr and Menard 1979:236–241; Berlin 1998:109–111; Walsh 2010:202–203). Recent research on the transatlantic slave trade indicates that most slaves arriving in the Chesapeake during the late 17th century came directly from Africa, with over half coming from the Bight of Biafra for the period from 1698 to 1729 (Walsh 2010:202). More specifically, the majority of those Africans came to Maryland from Senegambia, the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Windward Coast (Walsh 2003:13). Only recently have archaeologists begun to analyze the dissimilarities in material culture recovered from sites in the Upper and Lower Chesapeake, as they may relate to cultural differences within enslaved groups in those subregions (Samford et al. 2012). Increasingly sophisticated subregional

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models of slavery promise to contribute a complex, if still incomplete, understanding of the material record of life in the early Chesapeake.

Patricia Samford’s (2007:154–171) analysis of the possible connections between West African shrines and artifacts recovered from subfloor pits in Virginia, and the work of Mark Leone and his many colleagues in Annapolis, Maryland (Cochran 1999; Jones 1999; Leone and Fry 1999; Leone 2005:199–244), are substantive projects from the Chesapeake that demonstrate intentionality through the archaeological record and, in turn, link that intentionality to African and African American spiritual expressions. This work also highlights the importance of temporal and spatial context. Pierced coins, for example, are also commonly found on sites occupied by African Americans; for example, see Heath (1999), Davidson (2004), and Schablitsky (2011). Yet, the majority of such examples come from 19th- and 20th-century contexts. Archaeologists have not adequately demonstrated

the genesis of pierced coins within African American contexts (Davidson 2004:33). If Africans were, in fact, making use of pierced coins in the 17th-century Chesapeake, then the practice simply has not been clearly identified through the archaeological record. Spatial and temporal clarity will result in more promising interpretations of potential spiritual uses of pierced coins and other artifacts.

A Context for Spiritual Practices in Charles Town, 1680–1720

Mount Calvert Towne was established in 1684 by the Maryland legislature and was renamed Charles Town while serving as the first county seat of Prince George’s County between 1696 and 1721 (Hienton 1972:11–25; Lucas 2008:91–148). Charles Town was a small linear village typical of the Chesapeake region during the period. Archaeological and historical research confirms that the locale was little more than a row of buildings lining

FIGURE 1. Pierced silver Elizabethan coin, 1559–1602, recovered from the borrow pit at Terrace Site A: obverse (left) and reverse (right). (Photo by Paul A. Newman, 2004; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)


a single road parallel to the Patuxent River (Lucas 2007). Stores, ordinaries/dwellings, and their associated outbuildings were the most common structures found at late-17th-century sites like Charles Town (Carr 1993:179). There was also an Anglican church, a courthouse, and a jail constructed in the village. Charles Town experienced a rapid decline following the removal of the court to Upper Marlboro in 1721 and ceased to function as a viable town by the second quarter of the 18th century (Hienton 1972:23–25). Most of the site of Charles Town is now owned and managed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission as Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park.

Prince George’s County residents came from surrounding plantations to Charles Town to conduct business when the county court was in session. While at Charles Town, visitors would often stay at one of the ordinaries, where they could get something to eat and drink and social-ize with other guests (Lucas 2008:190–213). Very few people lived at Charles Town on a year-round basis, and most of the dwellings that did exist may also have served as ordinaries at some point during their lifespans.

Charles Town was also an entrepôt for the exchange of European goods and Chesapeake tobacco. Prominent London merchants including Peter Paggen and Edward and Dudley Carlton kept stores at Charles Town during the late 17th and early 18th centuries (Maryland State Archives 1696a:65,614). Wealthy politicians living near Charles Town represented the inter-ests of the merchant houses as factors. Their stores were prosaic fixtures at Charles Town and other riverfront locations throughout the Chesa-peake. The landing at Charles Town remained economically viable long after the movement of the court led to the disuse of most buildings. But it was Charles Town’s role as the county seat that made the town an important cultural center in early Prince George’s County.

When the Prince George’s County court met for the first time in 1696, the justices were charged with a standard list of judicial duties following Michael Dalton’s The Country Justice published in 1690 (Dalton 1690). Several of these individuals were chosen to serve as commissioners to inquire into “all manner [of] Fellonies, witchcrafts, Inchantments, Sorceries,

Magick Art ... and of [all] singular other misdeeds and offences ... of which Justices of the Peace in England may or ought lawfully to enquire” (Maryland State Archives 1696a:1). The Country Justice cites specific forms of material culture used in conjuration and witchcraft, such as clay or wax figures, and crystals (Dalton 1690:384–386). The statutes further instruct that if victims “vomit up crooked Pins, Needles, Nails, Coals, Lead, Straw, Hair, or the like,” then witchcraft should be suspected (Dalton 1690:385). Punishments for transgressions involving the supernatural world were carried out within the context of local court proceedings.

One of the most famous witchcraft trials in Maryland involved a woman who lived a few miles west of Charles Town (Logan 2001:105–112). In 1685, Rebecca Fowler was accused of “being led by the instigation of the Devil [into] certain evil & diabolical arts called witchcrafts,” and that she “did use practice & exercise in upon & against one Francis Sansbury & several others” (Parke 1936:283). Fowler was convicted of the charge and executed (Parke 1936:282–284). The Fowler case, although unusual in its outcome, illustrates both the persistence of the belief in witchcraft and the extreme measures the colonial government was willing to take to suppress acts of conjuration and magic.

A second case demonstrates that healing, and perhaps benevolent magic, was toler-ated if not embraced by the citizens of early Prince George’s County. In August of 1696, the Prince George’s County court granted John Browne an allowance of 800 lb. of tobacco for the continued care and maintenance of Nicholas Baker. During a five-year battle with an ailment described as “Leprocie in boath his legs,” Browne paid a “doctor” Hunt 2,000 lb. of tobacco for his services (Maryland State Archives 1696a:22). In addition, Browne “kept and maintained an Indian an whole yeare and an Negroe a whole winter in hopes of Cure” (Maryland State Archives 1696a:22). Maintaining Native American and African healers suggests an embrace of non-Western knowledge of the natural, and perhaps supernatural, world. Fur-thermore, the Baker and Fowler cases indicate that belief in supernatural phenomena and folk magic often extended beyond the privacy of households.


Case Study 1: Empowered Objects and Cultural Encounters

A collection of artifacts recovered from one Charles Town site provides an example of the potential disconnect between artifacts and spe-cific cultural traditions. Terrace Site A is an early-18th-century domestic site bordered by the Patuxent River to the east and the main road leading into Charles Town on the west. Two primary structures have been identified on the site (Figure 2). An 18 × 24 ft. post-in-ground dwelling, with a brick fireplace and an 8 × 16 ft. shed addition, was constructed around 1700. A second 15 × 20 ft. structure was later added adjacent to the primary dwelling, probably during the first decade of the 18th century. This later building was also an earth-fast structure that contained a single 3 ft. round subfloor pit.

The structure probably served as a slave quarter during the first two decades of the 18th century.

Historical research suggests that the buildings at Terrace Site A were most likely constructed under the orders of James Stoddert. Stoddert was born in Scotland in 1667 and emigrated to Maryland by 1695 (Papenfuse et al. 1985:782). Stoddert was living in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, by 1695 (Maryland State Archives 1696b:18), but eventually joined a sizable group of his countrymen who settled along the Potomac River in and around the present boundaries of Washington, D.C. Numerous land patents were established by Scottish immigrants along the Anacostia River during the mid-1680s. James Thompson sold one of these properties, known as Yarrow, to Stoddert in 1696 (Mary-land State Archives 1696b:18), and soon after he began trading with local Native American

FIGURE 2. Plan of Terrace Site A showing buildings, relevant features, and the position of key objects recovered from the plowzone. (Drawing by author, 2012; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)


groups, including the Piscataway, from the dwelling he had constructed on the property. Stoddert also kept enslaved Africans at Yarrow. Stoddert started as a tailor, but it was his role as a politician and his interactions with Native Americans in the region that would secure his place in the late-17th-century historical narrative of the Chesapeake region.

Contact between Native Americans and Euro-peans in the Chesapeake contributed to shift-ing alliances, land grabs, and frequent conflict during the 17th century (Potter 1993:174–198). The local Piscataway carried on a regular trade with Stoddert at Yarrow, where “some families of the Piscattoway Indians had their Cabins” (Browne 1899:522). In 1697 a group of “Indi-ans,” not the Piscataway who regularly traded at Yarrow, were accused of killing one of Stod-dert’s slaves (Browne 1899:522–523). These “Indians” appear to have been an unaffiliated group from the west. Anxiety and the fear of repercussions from the murder led to the exodus of the Piscataway to Virginia. This event, and the turmoil that followed, also likely caused Stoddart to sell his Yarrow plantation and move to Charles Town by the early 1700s.

Stoddert became a powerful merchant-pol-itician following his move to Charles Town, serving as a justice on the county court between 1699 and 1716, a delegate from Prince George’s County from 1713–1715, and a provincial court justice from 1716 until his death in 1726 (Hienton 1972:23; Papenfuse et al. 1985:782). Finally, Stoddert was a strong supporter of the Presbyterian Church in early Maryland and was instrumental in establishing the first church at Upper Marlboro in 1704 (Hienton 1972:91–93). The large number of Puritan authors included in his library, such as Isaac Ambrose, John Owen, and John Tillotson, further indicates his support of Protestant Reformation theology (Maryland State Archives 1726:5–8).

It is likely that Stoddert lived at the main dwelling at Terrace Site A between about 1700 and 1705. At least some of those enslaved Afri-cans who lived at Yarrow probably accompanied Stoddert when he relocated to Charles Town. It is uncertain how many slaves lived at Stoddert’s residence at Terrace A, but Structure 2 was added as a separate quarter following his move.

One of the most intriguing features at Ter-race Site A was an 8 × 11 ft. refuse-filled,

clay borrow pit. The borrow pit was located directly under the northeast wall of Structure 2, and the archaeological sequence indicates that the borrow pit was excavated and filled prior to the construction of Structure 2 (Swain 2011). Historical and archaeological data sug-gest that the borrow pit was probably filled sometime between 1697 and about 1710 (Lucas 2008:342–343). Among the many thousands of artifacts recovered from the borrow pit were a pierced Elizabethan coin, an oval copper pen-dant, cowrie shells, hundreds of glass beads, and hawks bells (Figures 1, 3a,b,c). A pierced Charles I half groat (1625–1649), a pierced Charles II threepence (1683), a pierced stone disk, and a double-barred cross were also found in the plowzone (Figure 3d,e,f,g). This collec-tion of objects suggests the potential for an intriguing mix of cultural expressions at Terrace Site A.

The presence of glass beads, hawks bells, and the copper pendant might be expected, considering Stoddert’s role as a trader with the Piscataway during the 1690s, but the pierced coin from the feature, and crosses and pierced objects from the plowzone, add another layer of complexity. Considering his adherence to Puritan doctrine, the Kirk of Scotland, and county stat-utes that explicitly criminalized “witch crafts” and other “sorceries,” it may seem unlikely that Stoddert would have practiced any popular rituals involving coins or other material culture. Yet, the use of popular magic and cunning persisted in England, Scotland, Puritan New England, and the Chesapeake colonies at the end of the 17th century (Godbeer 1992:24–54; Horn 1994:413–415; Davies 2008). The two crosses recovered from the site are perhaps the most incongruous finds. The double-barred cross recovered from Terrace Site A is an example of either the Spanish Caravaca cross or French cross of Lorraine. A fragment of another small cross was found near the quarter. Both crosses were produced for Catholic rituals.

If not Stoddert, then who was responsible for the presence of pierced objects and the crosses? One possibility is that someone of European descent, who embraced the practice of alter-ing coins and other popular beliefs, was living in the dwelling as a tenant prior to Stoddert moving to Charles Town sometime after 1700. At least some of these artifacts represent objects


used by enslaved Africans living at the site. Hawks bells, beads, cowrie shells, and pierced metal objects are frequently recovered from sites occupied by African Americans (Yentsch 1994:190–194; Stine et al. 1996; Heath 1999; Davidson 2004), and cowries and Italian beads were valuable commodities in the transatlantic slave trade (Price 1989:277; Gregory 1996:197–198; Ogundiran 2002; Gijanto 2011:640–641; Ammann 2012:39–41). All of these objects, with the exception of the cowrie shells, are also com-monly found on Native American contact period

sites. More specifically, Charles II pierced coins, beads, hawks bells, and copper pendants have been recovered at 17th-century Piscataway Indian ossuaries located along the Potomac River in western Prince George’s County (Curry 1999:26,34,39, figures 26,31,35). These objects are similar to those found at Terrace Site A. The crosses may have originally been involved in an encounter between Native Americans and Europeans on the colonial Chesapeake frontier.

Crucifixes, crosses, or religious medals would be expected on archaeological sites like those at

FIGURE 3. Artifacts from Terrace Site A borrow pit: (a) cowrie shell, (b) burned cowrie shell, (c) copper pendant. Artifacts from Terrace Site A plowzone: (d ) pierced Charles II threepence, 1683; (e) pierced Charles I half groat, 1625–1649; (f ) pierced stone; (g) double-barred cross. (Photo by Paul A. Newman, 2012; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)


St. Mary’s City where many Catholics lived and worshiped, but the presence of such objects has not been adequately documented on early sites in Prince George’s County. Double-barred crosses have been recovered from other sites on the east coast. A Caravaca cross was recovered from a late-17th-century trash pit in St. Augustine, Flor-ida (Carl D. Halbirt 2012, elec. comm.). Another example was recovered from excavations at the Spanish mission of Santa Catalina de Guale on Amelia Island, Florida (Deagan 1987:62). A French cross of Lorraine was recovered from the late-17th-century Fort Fontenac on the northern side of Lake Ontario (Jeff Seibert 2012, elec. comm.). The unusual occurrence of the double-barred cross and the other cross fragment in Charles Town may be the result of encounters between Native Americans and Europeans on the Potomac side of the county.

In 1705 Charles Beall, commander of the Potomac rangers and son of Ninian Beall, cap-tured a “Seneca Indian wearing a crucifix and beads” (Castle 1963:13). Beall’s prisoner indi-cated that he was christened by a Jesuit priest in Canada and probably received the crucifix at that time (Castle 1963:13). It is possible that the double-barred cross made its way into the archaeological record at Terrace Site A via cultural and material exchange that took place at Yarrow. There is no evidence that Native Americans were living at Terrace Site A during the early 18th century, but rather than associat-ing the meaning of the objects with European, African, or Native American traditions per se, a more complex and nuanced scenario is probable.

Glass beads, hawks bells, and copper pen-dants would have been valuable to Stoddert as commodities for trading with the Native Ameri-cans along the eastern branch of the Potomac. Their subsequent value to him as a politician at Charles Town would have been consider-ably less, perhaps even approaching the level of refuse. Africans living at Terrace A may have acquired beads, coins, pendants, and other objects as a result of their immersion in the sphere of interaction that took place at Yarrow.

Native Americans trading with Stoddert were in constant contact with Africans at the Yarrow plantation during the late 17th century. At the same time slaves were traveling throughout the region under minimal restrictions until the mid-1690s (Lucas 2008:383–385). In short, Native

Americans, the Stoddert family, and African slaves actively engaged in cultural as well as material exchange. The difficulty interpreting artifacts from Terrace Site A that may represent spiritual expressions lies in the fact that they were deposited as refuse along with architectural debris, tobacco-pipe fragments, food remains, and hundreds of other artifacts. At first glance the presence of numerous cowrie shells sug-gests a context attributable to enslaved Africans due to the important role cowries played in the transatlantic slave trade and their symbolic value in West Africa (Gregory 1996; Ogundiran 2002). But the pierced coin from the borrow-pit assemblage, along with the cross and pierced objects from the plowzone, cannot be assigned to any particular intentional actions based on their archaeological context. These artifacts are from refuse contexts attributable to both free European and enslaved African households. This context is very dissimilar to later plantation landscapes where slave quarters were physically isolated from white planter housing.

Julia King and Edward Chaney (2004:200) asked: “Can we describe and interpret land-scapes that included European, Indian, and African men and women in constant contact and negotiation?” In the case of Terrace Site A, potential spiritual objects cannot be confidently linked to any specific tradition. Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans were in constant contact at the Yarrow plantation on the Potomac frontier during the 1690s. It is possible that some artifacts from the archaeological assem-blages at Terrace Site A are the residue of ear-lier encounters on the Potomac. The collection of artifacts does not represent ethnic markers for “Africanisms,” “Indian-ness,” or “English” folk traditions. Rather, I believe that the objects from Terrace Site A are indicative of creolization, as it was articulated in the Chesapeake region at the end of the 17th century through the interaction of Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans. This material culture may represent the beginning of a hybridization of spiritual practices that became more firmly established later in the 18th century. This is a difficult scenario to demonstrate archaeologically, given the mixed refuse context of the assemblage, but it is also an important interpretive step toward understanding the rich cultural landscape of the Chesapeake region.


Case Study 2: Empowering Objects through Placement

A second example comes from Terrace Site B, located approximately 200 ft. to the northwest of Terrace Site A. Terrace Site B consists of at least one 20 × 40 ft. post-in-ground structure, probably constructed during the mid- to late 1680s and predating the structures at Terrace A by a decade (Figure 4). Archaeological evidence indicates that central structural posts support-ing the 20 ft. wide roof span existed along the long axis of the building. An interior chimney was also discovered during block excavations in 2010. The function of the building has not been determined, but it probably served multiple purposes.

The large number of tobacco-pipe stems indicates that the structure was used for a prolonged period. Other domestic artifacts, such as bottle glass and ceramics, were scarce, suggesting that its primary use was not as a dwelling. Hundreds of lead-shot and gun-flint fragments indicate the presence of arms, possibly related to early militia activities associated with the site. The building was probably constructed by Ninian Beall and perhaps used as an office while he was commissioner of Charles Town during the last two decades of the 17th century. Beall was born in Scotland in 1625 and fought against Oliver Cromwell until he was captured in 1650 at the Battle of Dunbar (Papenfuse et al. 1979:122). He was then transported to America as an indentured servant.

Beall eventually became an influential regional politician and land speculator who served as the commander of the Maryland militia by 1693. He was also commander of the rangers along the Patuxent and Potomac rivers. Rangers were charged with keeping the peace between European settlers and Native American groups living within the boundaries of Maryland. Beall was chosen to lead the rangers because he was viewed as “a person very ready & Serviceable upon Comotions or insurrections made by Indi-ans and that he is Seated convenient at the head of Petuxant River” (Browne 1900:154). Like Stoddert at Yarrow, Beall’s position as a ranger and then commander of the militia involved regular interactions with the Piscataway and unaffiliated tribes. Beall received an allowance for three slaves in 1699, in gratitude for his

long service in settling “Incursions and Distur-bances” with “Neighbouring Indians” (Browne 1883:494).

Beall was also a devout Presbyterian who donated the land for the first church at Marlboro in 1704 (Hienton 1972:91–92). The lots contain-ing Terrace Site B were sold by Ninian Beall to James Stoddert for £30 in 1705, giving Stod-dert three contiguous lots fronting the Patuxent River (Lucas 2008:137). Stoddert most likely continued to use the building throughout the first quarter of the 18th century.

The most intriguing feature uncovered during 2011 excavations at Terrace Site B was a small subfloor pit in the southwest corner of the building. The pit was straight walled on the west side and sloped inward on the east half, extending approximately 1.5 ft. below the base of the plowzone. The bottom 5 in. of the pit was 2 ft. in circumference and terminated in a flat base of subsoil clay and gravel. The regular shape at the bottom and the even base suggest that the feature was originally used as a storage pit.

Two distinguishable soil layers were encoun-tered. Layer A was a shallow layer of sandy loam and pipe stems, representing approximately the top 2 in. of the feature. The remaining stra-tum in the feature was slightly lighter in color and uniform to the base, consistent with a single fill episode. Three distinguishable components of the feature were identified based on artifact concentrations. The top half foot of the fill con-tained 360 artifacts, including 192 tobacco-pipe fragments. Most of these stems were recovered within the top 4 in. of fill. Only 7 of the 199 pipe stems recovered from the unit can be reli-ably assigned to the bottom half of the fill. The top of the feature can be characterized as a layer of pipe stems primarily, with the addition of 41 nails and a few miscellaneous artifacts (Table 1).

A second artifact grouping within the feature was encountered at about 6 in. below the base of the plowzone. A door staple 5½ in. long by 3 in. wide was uncovered about 5 in. below the surface. When this object was removed it was found that it had been lying directly above an upside-down, nearly complete pewter plate. Conservators from the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory came to the site and extracted the fragile plate and underlying soil


bulk. The plate and underlying 3 in. of soil were brought back to the laboratory for consoli-dation. A single broken quartz projectile point was uncovered in the soil directly beneath the plate during the field extraction (Figure 5d). An x-ray of the soil bulk was taken at the Mary-land Archaeological Conservation Lab, reveal-ing a small circular lead disk lying underneath the plate. The disk is approximately 1 in. in diameter by 0.25 in. thick, and tapers slightly (Figure 5c). Two wrought nails were also recov-ered from beneath the plate (Figure 5a,b). A rock resembling volcanic scoria was also recov-ered below the plate, matching several other examples from the surrounding matrix (Figure

5e). All of these objects appear to have been intentionally placed within the pit (Figure 6).

Three carved and pecked sandstone rocks were also recovered at roughly the same level as the pewter plate. The largest stone was pen-tagonal in shape and measured 3 in. long by 1.5 in. thick. The stone had been intentionally struck numerous times with a metal tool, such as a chisel, to produce the central channel along the face of the stone. The stone was resting in the pit with the tip facing upward. Two smaller stones were also recovered just north of the pewter plate. These two pieces exhibit point marks along one edge, produced by the striking effect of a sharp metal object. The two pieces

FIGURE 4. Plan of Terrace Site B showing the outline of Structure 1 and the location of relevant features. (Drawing by author, 2012; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)


Artifact Type Strat. A-B Strat. B-2 Strat. B-2 Strat. B-2 Strat. B-3 Above and 0–0.25 Ft. 0.25–0.5 Ft. North of Bottom 0.5 Ft. East of Plate below Plate below Plate Plate of Feature Fill N % N % N % N % N %

Tobacco-pipefragments 192 53.3 — — — — 7 11.9 — —Glass 3 0.8 — — — — — — — —Nails 41 11.4 2 40.0 — — 3 5.1 1 33.3Bone 7 1.9 — — — — 17 28.8 — —Brick 2 0.6 — — — — — — — —Pewter 47 13.1 — — 7 31.8 10 16.9 — —Lead shot 5 1.4 — — — — 1 1.7 — —Lead disk — — 1 20.0 — — — — — —Straight pin 1 0.3 — — — — — — — —Prehistoricpottery 22 6.1 — — 2 9.1 4 6.8 — —Possible colonoware 1 0.3 — — — — — — — —Quartz debitage 20 5.6 — — 7 31.8 6 10.2 1 33.3Quartzite debitage 1 0.3 — — — — 1 1.7 — —Rhyolite debitage 4 1.1 — — 1 4.5 — — 1 33.3Sandstone debitage 2 0.6 — — — — — — — —Quartz scraper 1 0.3 — — — — — — — —Quartz projectile-point tip — — 1 20.0 — — — — — —Carved sandstone 1 0.3 — — — — 2 3.4 — —Volcanic stone 10 2.8 1 20.0 — — 8 13.6 — —Iron concretion — — — — 5 22.7 — –– –– ––

Total 360 100 5 100 22 100 59 100 3 100

TABLE 1ARTIFACTS RECOVERED FROM TERRACE B SUBFLOOR PIT

mend, and one edge has been smoothed. The pieces were once part of a prehistoric ground-stone tool that was later modified with a metal implement.

Another group of objects was uncovered at the north terminus of the feature at the same level as the plate and stones. Here, a 4½ in. spike was driven approximately 2–3 in. into the wall of the pit. A complete pipe bowl was found directly under the spike, suggesting a possible intentional placement. Very few artifacts were recovered below the level of the tobacco pipe, representing the final distinguishable soil deposit within the feature.

Burying and concealing objects was practiced by both Africans and Europeans throughout Europe and the Chesapeake during the early 18th century (King 1996:28–29; Leone and Fry 1999; Becker 2005; Schablitsky 2011). One interpretive dilemma is that the function of the structure at Terrace Site B probably

changed over time. If the structure served as a workspace or storehouse, and enslaved Afri-cans, indentured European servants, or a free European tenant were living and working there, then fewer domestic artifacts would be expected as compared to a larger planter household. The type and materiality of artifacts recovered, their relative position, and the fact that they were recovered from a subfloor pit indicate an African rather than European spiritual expression. Both Stoddert and Beall owned slaves, and since the building did not serve as a dwelling for either of these powerful individuals, it is plausible that people of African descent occupied at least a portion of the structure at some point. Both the feature’s location within the building and the relative position of the artifacts within the feature are important interpretive components.

The subfloor pit at Terrace Site B was in the corner of the structure. Samford’s (2007:113) analysis of subfloor pits in Virginia indicates


that corner pits were not as deep as pits from other locations. The corner pits averaged less than 1.5 ft. in depth for her sample. At 1.5 ft., the subfloor pit at Terrace Site B would be in the range of Samford’s sample.

The artifacts within the feature consisted of pipe stems in a layer of soil lying over the door staple; and a pewter plate, slag, nails, lead disk, carved stones, and other objects that were rest-ing on approximately 0.5 ft. of fill at the base of the feature (Figure 6). The pewter plate and

associated artifacts are the key components of the feature. All these artifacts are metal, with the exception of the quartz projectile-point tip and the volcanic rock. Although the precise cultural expression is unknown, there may be a connection to African metalworking.

Metallurgy has played an important role in many societies throughout sub-Saharan West Africa for centuries (Okpoko 1987; Goucher 1993; Pole 2010; Usman 2012). Ironworking was frequently associated with powerful deities,

FIGURE 5. Artifacts found under a pewter plate in the Terrace Site B subfloor pit: (a, b) nails, (c) lead disk, (d) quartz projectile-point tip, and (e) volcanic stone. (Photo by Paul A. Newman, 2012; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)


FIGURE 6. Drawing showing the relative horizontal positions of artifacts within the subfloor pit. (Drawing by author, 2012; courtesy Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County.)

and the forge itself served as a religious sanctuary (Okpoko 1987:218; Njoku 1991:208; Pole 2010:61; Usman 2012:28–29). Ironworkers, especial ly blacksmiths, were high-status individuals because of their close relationship to the powers of the forge. In Igboland, it was believed that iron contained inherent powers “and consequently [was] dangerous to all

persons except those who had the uncommon gift of knowing how to handle it” (Njoku 1991:196). Ogun is the most widely articulated deity related to ironworking in West Africa. Ogun is the Yoruba deity of iron and war, who “lives in the piercing or slashing action of all iron” (Thompson 1983:53). Aribidesi Usman (2012:29) suggests belief in the deity expressed


by the Yoruba as Ogun may have followed the spread of metallurgy throughout West Africa.

Africans arriving in the Chesapeake from West Africa brought with them a belief in the spiritual importance of ironworking, if not the specialized skills of blacksmithing. Most of the artifacts associated with the pewter plate are the products of metalworking. Door staples and hinges are examples of the type of everyday items produced by West African blacksmiths (Njoku 1991:207). The lead disk was similarly transformed by fire. The sandstone rocks that have been deliberately struck by the “slashing action” of iron implements may also be con-nected to the transformative power of the stone anvil and hammer. These potential connections to West African metallurgy may serve as a common frame of reference for understanding the possible meanings associated with the group of objects.

The positioning of artifacts above and below the pewter plate is intriguing. At the top of the grouping is a door staple. Perhaps the door staple relates to the placement of the feature just inside a doorway near the corner of the structure. Further analysis and excavation are necessary to determine the locations of door-ways within the structure. The placement of the objects in the extreme southwest corner of the building, and the fact that the three worked stones, the spike and underlying pipe bowl, and the pewter-plate grouping are oriented in relative cardinal directions, is consistent with altars to orishas such as Ogun (Fennell 2007b:82–83). Two qualities distinguish the pewter plate. First, the plate covered and contained two nails, a lead disk, a large piece of volcanic rock, and a projectile-point tip. Second, the shape of the plate, the lead disk, and the circular base of the pit itself align with the importance of the circle in many West African cultures (Ferguson 1999:118–119). The lead disk may have been valued for the same reason. Conversely, the qualities of the quartz projectile-point tip may have made it a powerful addition to the collec-tion of artifacts found beneath the plate.

Quartz crystals have been recovered from many African American sites in the Chesa-peake region, including the nkisi discovered at the Carroll House in Annapolis (Leone and Fry 1999; Leone 2005). Quartz crystals, mir-rors, and other reflective surfaces were used as

symbols of the boundary separating the living and spirit worlds within the BaKongo culture of west-central Africa (Fennell 2007a:213). The quartz projectile-point tip, and perhaps the pewter plate, share these same qualities. Native American projectile points have been interpreted as serving spiritual or healing functions in 19th- and 20th-century African American contexts (Wilkie 1995:142–143).

Finally, the concentration of kaolin pipe stems near the top of the feature may be associ-ated with the pewter plate and other artifacts located in the middle layer of the feature. At first glance, these pipe stems appear to be a refuse layer. But considering the curious artifacts uncovered below, they may have been inten-tionally placed because of their color, shape, or other qualities. White clay was used as a symbol for the land of the dead in BaKongo minkisi (Fennell 2007b:58–59; Young 2007:113). Interpretation of this layer of pipe stems rests on the contextual analysis of the intentionally placed artifacts below.

A final interpretive problem is the fact that the pewter plate and associated artifacts are not resting at the base of the feature, but rather on top of about 6 in. of nearly sterile soil. Why were the artifacts located within the fill and not at the base? Samford’s (2007:158–161) analysis suggests that the practice of placing artifacts on soil fill within subfloor pits is consistent with elevated West African platform shrines. The location of the plate at the edge of the pit and similar soil fill above and below the plate do not suggest such an open-shrine context.

The artifact types and their configuration within the pit are similar to Yoruba, BaKongo, and Igbo traditions analyzed in detail by others (Ferguson 1999; Leone 2005:199–244; Fennell 2007a; Samford 2007). Part of the problem with making a firm association with any particular tradition is that there are simply not enough comparative examples from this early period in the Upper Chesapeake. Taken as a whole, the objects within the pit and the pit itself are clearly an expression of agency. The overall composition and materiality of the feature are consistent with African spiritual expressions. The structure was not originally constructed as a slave quarter, but the presence of the subfloor pit creates the opportunity to begin exploring the transformation of the spaces within the


structure as reinterpreted through an African cultural lens.

Conclusion

The two archaeological examples discussed in this article demonstrate the importance of deter-mining the proper unit of analysis for studying material expressions of magic and folk beliefs. The pierced coins, cowrie shells, beads, hawks bells, and other objects recovered from the borrow pit at Terrace Site A are part of a refuse context and not systematically arranged within the feature. The context of the pierced coins and other objects is mixed and inconclusive in terms of its potential meaning as a discrete expression of magic and folk beliefs. More importantly, these objects represent a continuum of tem-porally overlapping Native American, African, and European traditions, powerful symbols of cultural exchange, and the process of creoliza-tion. The buried pewter plate and associated artifacts recovered from Terrace Site B requires an entirely different interpretive framework. In this case objects were intentionally placed in the subfloor pit because their shape and material qualities made them spiritually powerful. The subfloor pit illustrates active cultural practices by Africans living at Charles Town, and in the process transforms the building, and the town itself, from an English or Scottish material representation to one that is both European and African in origin.

Bent and perforated coins, religious artifacts, cowrie shells, hawks bells, beads, and a variety of metal objects including pewter plates con-tained myriad meanings and functions within European, African, and Native American cultural traditions in the colonial Chesapeake. But it is important to remember that encounters between these groups during the late 17th century were dynamic, involving not only the exchange of material culture, but also cross-cultural exposure to rituals whereby some of those same objects were used in attempts to harness the supernatu-ral world.

Acknowledgments

Donald Creveling, Mark Leone, Patricia Samford, Julie Schablitsky, and Paul Shackel

provided helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of the article. Carl Halbirt and Jeff Seibert graciously shared their insights and data on double-barred crosses. Nichole Doub and Caitlin Shaffer from the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory extracted the pewter plate and provided an x-ray of the soil bulk. Initial block excavations were begun during the 1998 Archeological Society of Maryland’s annual field session, and I am grateful to Maureen Kavenaugh, Dennis Curry, Tyler Bastian, and Beth Cole of the Maryland Historical Trust, and the hundreds of participants who helped during the field session. The keen field observations by Matt Cochran, Emily Swain, and Kristin Montaperto contributed greatly to the success of the project. I thank Emily Swain for her careful excavation of much of the large borrow pit from Terrace Site A and preliminary artifact summaries. I am most indebted to the many members of the field team who worked beside me during the six summers of field- and lab work that contributed to the completion of the project. The field team included Matt Cochran, Bruce Falkinburg, Jennifer Falkinburg, Chris Funches, Les Graves, Michelle Hammer, Allison Hawley, Paula Miller, Stephanie Meredith, Kristin Montaperto, Sara Owens, Sara Rivers Cofield, Karen Stark, Emily Swain, Jackie Whipple, Erin Wingfield, and Jenna Zimmerman. Fieldwork was funded by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and a Maryland Historical Trust Non-Capital Grant. Any mistakes, interpretations, or misrepresentations are my own.

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