Hallowed objects and the boundaries of magic in Scotland circa AD 1400-1700

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The project focuses on reviewing archaeological excavation reports, stray finds, and museum collections. The aim is to assess the potential for identifying evidence of magical beliefs and practices through material culture and enhancing our understanding of this element of socio-religious culture in late medieval and early modern Scotland. Research questions: (1) To what extent can magic be identified in the Scottish late medieval and early modern archaeological record, and how do artefacts compare with contemporary textual sources? (2) What does surviving material culture reveal about the impact of the Protestant Reformation on interactions with magic and spirituality? (3) Does this impact vary regionally? The date range is circa 1400 - 1700 AD. Evidence selection criteria will be formed from engagement with current archaeological theory on materiality of belief, current research carried out in Scotland, Britain and Western Europe, and contemporary written records that can shed light on concepts of (and attitudes towards) magic. This project is carried out on the basis that numerous excavation reports languish in archives with untapped potential to engage with different disciplines and make found material culture more widely known. These reports contain data that can be further used to improve our current understanding of the social history of Scotland during a watershed period in its religious and political landscape. Moreso, magic overall in the late medieval period and material evidence of magic in the early modern period is frequently neglected in comparison to the 17th century witch trials and their records. Written sources overall have up until this point been investigated far more than the material record, welcoming the opportunity for a more archaeologically balanced method and approach.