To Save the Soul: Protective Marks in a Mortuary Context
Author(s): Robyn S. Lacy
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Well known within medieval churches, household items, and Pennsylvania Dutch barns, protective marks such as the hexfoil (also known as the daisy wheel or witch hex), and whorl or pinwheel can also be seen throughout the colonial world in a mortuary context. Intertwined with the iconography inscribed on gravestones from the 17th to the 19th century, these marks were brought across the Atlantic with settlers and maintained their purpose, appearing in many aspects of the settlers’ daily lives in North America. On a gravestone, a hexfoil may have been intended to protect the soul of the departed or that of the living mourner. While protective marks were driven underground after the Protestant Reformation in England, their use became static in North America. This paper will explore the distribution and meanings of protective marks on gravestones on the Atlantic Coast: as protective marks, hidden patterns, and decoration.
Cite this Record
To Save the Soul: Protective Marks in a Mortuary Context. Robyn S. Lacy. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457235)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Burial
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Gravestone
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hexfoil
Geographic Keywords
Canada
Temporal Keywords
17th century to 19th century
Spatial Coverage
min long: -141.003; min lat: 41.684 ; max long: -52.617; max lat: 83.113 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 167