Bottles concealed and revealed: examining the phenomena of stone and glass 'witch bottles' and their concealment in mid to late 17th-century England

使用玻璃瓶和德国或英国制造的石器瓶作为“女巫瓶”，并将其放置/隐藏在建筑物、教堂墓地、沟渠和河岸中，这种情况仅限于世纪中后期，（主要）特别是在大伦敦、英格兰东部和英格兰东南部的某些县。虽然这代表了“女巫瓶”的开始，以及它们在国家背景下作为一种实践的隐藏，但它仍然不同于未来两个世纪在不列颠群岛出现的其他形式的流行“瓶”魔法。这种独特的现象有两种解释。第一种是用于建筑保护：在这里，瓶子被放置在烟囱/壁炉或门槛下作为精神陷阱。第二，它们被用作治疗巫术的容器。约瑟夫·布拉格雷夫（Joseph Blagrave）在这一时期的书面记录中描述了这种做法，其中表明受害者会用尿液，其他内容物，如别针，钉子和荆棘和/或个人物品（如理发）填充瓶子，然后燃烧瓶子直到它爆炸或将其埋葬。这种行为会给女巫带来痛苦，并揭示他们的下落，逆转诅咒。自从“女巫瓶”在19世纪世纪首次被报道以来，它们已经出现在各种出版物中，在许多博物馆/民俗收藏和考古档案中进行了策划，并在与异教和民俗研究有关的网站上进行了讨论。它们的数量已经从考古学家和博物馆馆长拉尔夫梅里菲尔德（1987年）首次绘制的少数几个地图增加，并从考古遗址，建筑记录调查和/或历史建筑翻新中恢复。虽然许多石器和玻璃“女巫瓶”及其内容物在现在幸存下来，但它是一个部分资源，从未被作为一个整体进行过批评和调查。由于瓶子通常被单独考虑，因此解释依赖于梅里菲尔德（1987），虽然Massey（2000）一直强调对液体内容物的科学分析，但参与仍然限于少数独立人士（即Hoggard 2004; Hoggard in赫顿（艾德）2015）和学术学者（Davies，同上）。讨论在很大程度上与瓶子所在的建筑类型及其文化背景无关，例如在现代早期如何管理和理解药物，这个应用程序的目的是重新校准我们的理解这些瓶子和他们的内容超过36个月通过合作和可访问的研究通过与奈杰尔杰弗里斯作为首席研究员（PI）的伙伴关系实现和MOLA的其他考古学家与赫特福德大学（UH）历史系的欧文·戴维斯教授和Ceri Houlbrook博士-学者们关注魔法，巫术，物体隐藏，流行医学和魔法的物质文化的研究。这项研究的受益者将不仅包括该时期的历史学家和考古学家，还将参与并告知博物馆/民俗策展人，而巫术的主题具有超越学术界的吸引力。赫顿（艾德编）《基督教英国的巫术行为、巫术和巫术的物理证据：对魔法的感觉》，帕尔格雷夫·麦克米伦，209- 32霍格德，B 2004年“反巫术和流行魔法的考古学”，载于O戴维斯和W de Blécourt（编）《超越女巫审判：启蒙欧洲的巫术和魔法》曼彻斯特：曼彻斯特大学出版社，167- 86霍格德，B 2015年“女巫瓶：他们的内容，上下文和用途”在R赫顿（艾德）同上，91- 105梅西，A和埃德蒙兹，T 2000年“的Reigate女巫瓶”当前考古学（69，1995年（1），页。34-6梅里菲尔德，R 1987年《巫术与魔法的考古学》，伦敦

The use of glass bottles and German or English made stoneware bottles as 'witch bottles' and their placement / concealment in buildings, churchyards, ditches and riverbanks is an occurrence limited to the mid to late 17th century and (largely) particular to Greater London, Eastern England and certain South East counties of England. Whilst this represents the beginnings of 'witch bottles' and their concealment as a practice in the national context, it remains distinct from other forms of popular 'bottle' magic that emerge over the next two centuries across the British Isles. This unique phenomenon has been interpreted in two ways. The first is for building protection: here the bottle was placed in the chimney/hearth or under a threshold as a spirit trap. Second is their use as containers of an administered cure against witchcraft. Written accounts from this period by Joseph Blagrave (among others) that describe the practice suggest the victim would fill bottles with urine, other contents such as pins, nails and thorns and / or personal objects (e.g. hair clippings) and then burn the bottle until it exploded or had it buried. This act would inflict pain on the witch and reveal both their whereabouts and reverse the curse. Since 'witch bottles' were first reported in the 19th century, they have featured in a varied range of publications, are curated in numerous museum / folklore collections and archaeological archives, and discussed on websites concerned with paganism and folklore studies. Their numbers have grown from the few first mapped by archaeologist and museum curator Ralph Merrifield (1987) and have since been recovered from archaeological sites, building recording surveys and or/ historic building renovations. Although many stoneware and glass 'witch bottles' and their contents survive in the present, it is a partial resource that has never been critiqued and surveyed as a whole collection. With bottles often considered individually, interpretations are reliant on Merrifield (1987) and whilst the scientific analysis of liquid contents has since been emphasised by Massey (2000), engagement remains limited to a few independent (i.e. Hoggard 2004; Hoggard in Hutton (ed) 2015) and academic scholars (Davies, ibid). Discussion is largely disconnected from the building types the bottles are found in and their cultural context, such as how medicine was administered and understood during the early modern period, and the role popular magic played.This application aims to recalibrate our understanding of these bottles and their contents over 36 months through collaboration and accessible research achieved through partnership with Nigel Jeffries as Principal Investigator (PI) and other archaeologists at MOLA with Professor Owen Davies and Dr Ceri Houlbrook of the History Department at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) - academics concerned with the study of magic, witchcraft, object concealment, popular medicine and the material culture of magic as Co-Is. Beneficiaries of this research will include not just historians and archaeologists of the period, but engage and inform museum / folklore curators, while the subject of witchcraft has an appeal that resonates beyond academia.Further readingDavies, O, and Easton T, 2015 'Cunning-Folk and the Production of Magical Artefacts' in R. Hutton (ed) Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery, and Witchcraft in Christian Britain: A Feeling for Magic, Palgrave MacMillan, 209-32Hoggard, B 2004 'The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic', in O Davies and W de Blécourt (eds) Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and magic in Enlightenment Europe Manchester: Manchester University Press, 167-86Hoggard, B 2015 'Witch bottles: their Contents, Contexts and Uses' in R Hutton (ed) ibid, 91-105Massey, A and Edmonds, T 2000 'The Reigate Witch Bottle' Current Archaeology (69, Vol XV (1), pp. 34-6 Merrifield, R 1987 The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, London