Sex and Penitence: Untold Stories of 18th-Century Contraception and Religious Fervor from Collections Excavated in the 1980s

Summary

At the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab), the philosophy on collections is "Yes, you can have access to that," and making access a top priority has delivered valuable and surprising results. This paper is a tale of two artifacts from 1980s collections that have been reexamined and re-identified in the past year and a half: a possible lamb intestine condom from a ca. 1720-1750 well (originally catalogued as "paper?"), and a cilice recovered from a 19th-century Jesuit context that was identified in 1983 as "bedspring fragments." The condom was identified during the creation of an outreach exhibit tying collections to the popular Outlander book and television series, while the cilice was identified by Gloria S. King fellow Laura Masur. Both artifacts make the point that the thrill of discovery does not stop in the field. New eyes examining existing collections can reveal a treasure trove of juicy stories. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Boxed but not forgotten: The significance of collections-driven research in historical archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 245