More on the Tortoise Shell

The carved tortoise shell shown below was found in the Brice House yard at the base of a lightning rod, near a downspout. This tortoise shell was part of a compact cache of artifacts intentionally placed in this location. The cache also contained oyster shells, a crystal decanter top, and a pierced coin. Through reading the work of Robert Ferris Thompson of Yale who is a scholar of West African religious traditions, Dr. Mark Leone found that within these traditions spirits are associated with beams of light and reflective objects. In this case, the lightning rod provided a pathway for the spirit, while the crystal held the spirit. Caches were buried in particular places in order to conjure and control spirits for a specific purpose such as curing, protecting or causing harm to another person. Without knowing the complete situation in which the cache was created we can only guess at its intended purpose. While bone and shell are common elements found in caches, carved pieces such as the tortoise shell shown here are less common. Archaeologists are still unclear as to what this carved image may represent. As always we are open to your suggestions!

The above information was taken from Mark Leone's book The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital: excavations in Annapolis (University of California Press, 2005).