A fist-sized chunk of clear quartz that was just a curiosity when archaeologists found it eight years ago in Baltimore's Carroll Park is now being described as a relic of West African spiritual practices among Maryland slaves.
Calling it "a window to the soul," Carroll Park Foundation officials and archaeologists unveiled the rock crystal yesterday at the park's Mount Clare Mansion, where it is now on display.
The discovery "shows that people did hold values that were traditionally from their native [West African] homes, and those beliefs included the idea that objects could symbolize ancestral spirits, souls and the presence of those spirits in our lives," said Dr. George C. Logan, supervising archaeologist for the Carroll Park Foundation.
But the archaeological community is still debating the meaning of rock crystals found at this and other African-American archaeological sites in recent years.
Dr. James F. Deetz, the David A. Harrison Professor of New World Studies at the University of Virginia, said the Carroll Park Foundation archaeologists may be right.
But he cautioned that the current enthusiasm for the long-neglected field of African-American archaeology may be pushing scientific conclusions too far.
It is "a well-intended and laudable search for African [cultural] survivals on this side of Middle Passage," he said, a reference to the slave trade's brutal and often deadly Atlantic crossing. "But some people get carried away and go beyond what the evidence will support."
Mount Clare Mansion was built in 1756 for Charles Carroll, the Barrister, who helped draft Maryland's Constitution. It was the center of a 2,300-acre plantation that included a grist mill and an iron foundry. All that remains is the mansion and a 116-acre city park.
The foundation plans to develop Mount Clare into a $12 million "living history" museum called "Carroll's 100." (The "100" is an 18th-century term for an administrative division or large tract of land.) Its mission is to educate people, draw tourists and revitalize its southwest Baltimore neighborhood.
Pamela Charshee, the foundation's director, said displaying the crystal "certainly gives us a way to communicate to people that we have something very exciting here." A fund-raising campaign is scheduled to begin within a month.
The crystal was found during the 1986 excavation of the $H mansion's vanished kitchen by the Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology. It is thought to have come from a Maryland quartz deposit, and appeared to have been buried in a shallow pit beneath the kitchen floor. It was covered by soils dated by other artifacts to about 1760.
In 1986, archaeologists didn't know what to make of the crystal and cataloged it as a rock. It remained in storage until last year, when the foundation began working to complete the site analysis.
Archaeologists' fresh interpretation of the crystal as an object linked to African spiritualism is part of a new and growing scientific interest in African-American archaeology.
Back into history
"It is a valuable avenue of access to people who didn't get written about very much," Dr. Deetz said. "We have a way to bring these people back into history by using what they left behind."
As more Great House kitchens, slave quarters and cabins are excavated, archaeologists have begun to see a pattern in the quartz crystals, disks, pebbles or inscribed pottery fragments that are sometimes found.
In 1991, University of Maryland anthropologist Mark Leone reported finding small rock crystals, polished pebbles, disks and bones buried in the basement of the Charles Carroll House in Annapolis, which belonged to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a cousin of the Barrister.
Dr. Leone said the objects "clearly show that African religious practices remained alive at least until 1820."
Dr. Leone said such items have now been found at "hundreds" of sites in the Southeast, usually buried near hearths or in the corners of slave quarters.
Refers to religion
When compared with recorded slave accounts and descriptions of West African cultural practices and artifacts, he said, "There is no guessing involved about what the material associated with these crystals is all about. It refers to religion that comes directly out of West Africa.
"These artifacts are used to control and influence a world filled with the spirits of ancestors and, when controlled, can be used for good and evil," Dr. Leone said. Crystals, by virtue of their color and "flash," were believed to have provided links to the spirits, and they were buried to protect them from unauthorized use.
Based on analogy
The West African interpretation is attractive because it provides the simplest fit to the evidence, said College Park anthropology professor John L. Seidel, who directs archaeology at Mount Clare.
"A lot of what we do is based on analogy," he said. "We find something we can't understand, look for similar items in a similar culture and try to see whether that gives us any insights.
"I think it's a very strong analogy, and I think the converse -- to say their [the slaves'] beliefs, traditions and practices were left on the West African shore -- is a bit hard to believe," he said.
Evidence too thin
Other archaeologists say the evidence is still too thin, and the objects' African and spiritual origins aren't clear. The pebbles, 00 disks and crystals could be explained as gaming pieces, buttons or curios. Some scientists are reluctant to express their doubts on the record because they might be seen as "politically incorrect."
"It is very popular to consider them African-related," said Anne Arundel County archaeologist Al Luckenbach. "I personally haven't reached a conclusion yet. It's not the only explanation."
Many groups have been, and still are, fascinated by crystals. They were advertised for sale in Annapolis in the mid-18th century. "Were they selling them to slaves as ritual objects, or were they serving some function we don't know about?" Dr. Luckenbach asked.
Dr. Deetz said he would like more than a single crystal at a site before drawing any conclusions about rituals. "If you found six things, maybe you've got something," he said.
Used in rites
Dr. Douglas V. Armstrong, associate professor of anthropology at Syracuse University, said he has found crystals associated with African-American burials in the Caribbean. They were clearly used in rites.
But the meaning of an isolated stone would be harder to determine. Even practices originally religious in nature likely evolved and changed their significance with time and distance, he said.
"There is almost a desperate need in dealing with the African-American experience to find things attributable to a specific group," Dr. Armstrong said. The difficulty comes in separating any true African influences from those of the dominant European culture into which the slaves were thrown.
"I guess in the long run we'll be able to sort it out," he said. "I certainly wouldn't discount this [Mount Clare crystal] as something important to look at."