Ho-Hum Hoofwear or Meaningfully Magical? How to Identify and Interpret Apotropaic Horseshoes

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Digging Deep: Close Engagement with the Material World" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Horseshoes are common finds on post-contact sites in the Chesapeake and elsewhere. While they are typically interpreted as artifacts of transportation or agriculture, horseshoes also served magical functions such as warding off evil and bringing good luck. This creates an interpretive problem for archaeologists as the recovery of a horseshoe either sheds light on the importance of horses to historic lifeways, or the belief systems of the people being studied. Both are important, but which should get the write up in the report? Fortunately, it is often possible to determine whether or not a horseshoe enjoyed a second career as an apotropaic device. This paper offers case studies combining the physical attributes of horseshoes with historical documentation and archaeological provenience to indicate whether various horseshoes recovered archaeologically were more likely to have been deposited after protecting a hoof or a person’s spiritual health.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021   •
• Digging Deep: Close Engagement with the Material World

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology