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.

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