The oldest African religious artifact in American history may have been discovered by University of Maryland archaeologists about 1,000 feet from the State House in Annapolis.
The football-size “bundle” of metals, dirt and sand shows how Annapolis residents in 1708 — when the town was established — embraced African culture and black magic, said Mark Leone, a university anthropologist who directs the school’s Archaeology in Annapolis project, which has conducted 40 excavations in the Maryland capital since 1982.
The artifact, unearthed four feet below Fleet Street in April and dated to about 1700, is made of dirt and sand, with about 300 pieces of lead shot encased at the bottom, a dozen nails above and two dozen common pins farther up, and a prehistoric stone axe sticks out the top.
Leone said he has never seen any artifact like it.
“It certainly offered protection to whomever put it in the ditch or the canal or the channel, but it was much more than that,” he said. “It represents the living embodiment of one deity or another, and it is a lot more sophisticated than a lot of later African charms associated with voodoo.”
The artifact had been placed in a street gutter, illustrating how black magic was practiced and accepted in public at that time, Leone said.
“The purpose of this discovery is to show that the Annapolis charter was given to a city with a weak government, and we know that at moments of weakness, magic is used to keep industries and communities in line with regard to what the social norms are,” Leone said.
University researchers are unsure which god may have been associated with the artifact, but the most likely one is Shango, the African god of thunder and lightning, Leone said.
The researchers are working to determine the artifact’s exact origins.
The artifact is eight inches wide, four inches thick and about 10 inches tall. A bag, perhaps made of leather, that held the object has partially disintegrated.
City officials are planning to bury above-ground electrical wires beneath the road, and archaeological digs are required before construction is done in the historic district.
Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer said the find separates the town from most others and helps it to learn about its past.
“Annapolis is one of the oldest cities in the colony, and so when they uncovered the cultural remains of these finds, it tells us a lot about how people were living when they first came to this country,” Moyer said.
“It’s something that I think can’t be replicated in any other town in the country — or would be hard to replicate.”
The artifact is on display this week at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis.
