The Past and Stuff

• S2 Ep20: Episode 20: Witch Bottles and Obsidian Mirrors

  Check us out at thepastandstuff.com for images of the historical artifacts we discuss and our blog. In this first episode of Season two, we are gearing up to Halloween. In Stuff in the News this week Ashley talks about NYC Mayor Eric Adams taking bribes from Turkey to not acknowledge the Armenian Holocaust. While, Tracey's Stuff in the News concerns mummies and skeletons, not the Halloween yard decorations, but actual Stone Age mummies and skeletons, and how researchers have been thinking about a system to name them other than dehumanizing numbers. In her piece of stuff this week Ashley's discusses Witch bottles, probably the most numerous, or at least most recognizable and extant anti-witch devices usually from the Early Modern period, but the example she uses is from as late as the American Civil War in the nineteenth century. Tracey's Piece of Stuff in an obsidian mirror from Aztec Mexico, used for divination or scrying, but also worn in ritual costumes, as well as being a facet of the god Tezcatlipoca, or the "Lord of Smoking Mirrors."    Ashley’s Stuff in the News: Michele McPhee, “Feds: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Took Bribes From Turkish Official To Ignore Armenian Genocide,” Los Angeles Magazine, September 26, 2024, https://lamag.com/news/feds-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-took-bribes-from-turkish-official-to-ignore-armenian-genocide.  Sean Mathews, “First Stop Istanbul’: Mayor Eric Adams Accused of Taking Bribes to Do Turkey’s Bidding in New York City,” Middle East Eye, September 26, 2024, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/first-stop-istanbul-eric-adams-did-turkeys-bidding-armenian-genocide-and-un-compound-federal.  Tracey’s Stuff in the News Chemnitz University of Technology, “Archaeologists develop system to produce unique names for skeletons and mummies,” accessed October 1st, 2024 at https://phys.org/news/2024-10-archaeologists-unique-stone-age-skeletons.html Tracey’s Halloween History History.com editors, Halloween 2024, updated Oct 3, 2024, accessed Oct 3rd, 2024 at https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween Joshua J. Mark, “History of Halloween,” Oct 21, 2009 accessed October 3, 2024 at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1456/history-of-halloween/ Ashley’s Piece of Stuff: Sarah Bahari, “Why Are Magic ‘Witch Bottles’ Used for Spells Washing Up on Texas Beaches?” NBC, November 27, 2023, https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/why-are-magic-witch-bottles-used-for-spells-washing-up-on-texas-beaches/3397188/.  Phil Gast, “Artifact Found at Civil War Site May Be a ‘Witch Bottle’ Used to Ward Off Evil Spirits. Really.” CNN, January 27, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/25/us/witch-bottle-virginia-civil-war-trnd/index.html.  Simon Ingram, “Witch Bottles’ Filled with Nails and Teeth Were Once Thought to Heal the Cursed,” National Geographic, September 24, 2024, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/witch-bottles-rituals-superstition-17th-century.  Samir S. Patel, “Opening a Witch Bottle,” Archaeology Magazine, 2009, https://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/halloween/opening_witch_bottle/.  Mark Price, “Eerie ‘Witch Bottles’ Are Washing Up along Gulf of Mexico. It’s Best Not to Open Them.” Fort Worth Star Telegram, November 20, 2023, https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article281997308.html.  Thwaite, Annie. “What Is a 'Witch-Bottle'? Assembling the Textual Evidence from Early Modern England.” Magic Ritual Witch 15, no. 2 (Fall 2020): 227-251. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff Stuart Campbell, Elizabeth Healey, Yaroslav Kuzmin, and Michael Glassock, “The Mirror, The Magus and More: Reflections on John Dee’s Obsidian Mirror, “ Antiquity 2021, pp.1547-1564 Emiliano Gallaga and Marc G. Bliney, Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, University of Colorado Press, 2016. Marc N. Levine and David M. Carballa, Obsidian Reflections: Symbolic Dimensions of Obsidian in Mesoamerica, University of Colorado Press, 2014. Guilhem Olivier, Mockeries and Metamorphoses of an Aztec God: Tezcatlipoca “Lord of Smoking Mirrors” University of Colorado Press, 2008. Karl A. Taube, “The Iconography of Mirrors at Teotihuacan,” in Janet Catherine Berlo ed. Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 8th and 9th October 1988, Washington D.C. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections and Trustees of Harvard University, pp.169-204 Nicholas J. Saunders, “A Dark Light: Reflection on Obsidian in Mesoamerica,” World Archaeology 33 (2001), pp.220-236. Paul F. Healey and Marc G. Blaney, “Ancient Maya Mosaic Mirrors: Function, Symbolism, and Meaning,” Ancient Mesoamerica 22 (2011), pp.229-244. Wikipedia, Mirrors in Mesoamerican Culture accessed Oct 1st, 2024 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrors_in_Mesoamerican_culture Wikipedia, Obsidian, accessed Oct 1, 2024 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian Wikipedia, Tezcatlipoca, accessed Oct 1, 2024 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tezcatlipoca 

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• S1 Ep19: Episode 19: Kreepy Krampus and Two Non-Voodoo Dolls Part 2

  In this episode, Tracey talks us through the science behind some of the new news about why olive oil is good for you and why ultra processed foods are bad for you. Ashley, meanwhile, tells us about the plight of Jerusalem’s ancient Armenian Christian quarter that is currently the subject of a seriously dodgy and illegal land grab. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff returns to the theme of figurines with nails coming out of them that are not voodoo dolls (Spoiler: Voodoo dolls are a myth!). This time we are looking at a N’kisi power figurine from the Kongo people and how it ensured social order. To round out our Christmas 2023 offerings Ashley’s Piece of Stuff is a truly creepy greeting card featuring everyone’s favorite Xmas child-kidnapper, Krampus! Tracey’s Stuff in the News:  Janis Jibrin, “Ultra Processed Food isn’t Just bad for your health - it messes with your mind,” National Geographic, November 22, 2023.  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/ultra-processed-foods-damage-brain-depression-anxiety-cognitive-decline Meryl Davies Landau, “No food or medicine can do what olive oil can do. Here’s Why,” National Geographic November 6, 2023 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/olive-oil-healthiest-oil-prevention-heart-disease-cancer Ashley’s Stuff in the News: Mary Hoogasian and Bedross Der Matossian, “The Armenian Community in Jerusalem Faces an Existential Threat,” Armenian Weekly, November 16, 2023, https://armenianweekly.com/2023/11/16/the-armenian-community-in-jerusalem-faces-an-existential-threat/.  Elis Gjevori, “East Jerusalem: Israeli Settlers Seek to Take Over Armenian Quarter by Force,” Middle East Eye, November 16, 2023, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-settlers-jerusalem-take-over-armenian-quarter-force. Crispian Balmer, “Jerusalem Christians Rally around Armenian Church over Land Deal,” Reuters, November 19, 2023,  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jerusalem-christians-rally-round-armenian-church-over-land-deal-2023-11-19/.  “‘We Won’t Leave’: Armenians in Jerusalem Push Back against Armed Settlers,” Al Jazeera, November 24, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/24/we-wont-leave-armenians-in-jerusalem-push-back-against-armed-settlers.  Tracey’s Piece of Stuff: David Frankfurter  "“Voodoo Doll”: Implications and Offense of a Taxonomic Category." Arethusa 53, no. 1 (2020): 43-58. https://doi.org/10.1353/are.2020.0001. David Frankenfurter, “Female Figurines in Early Christian Egypt: Reconstructing Lost Practices and Meanings,” Material Religion 11.2, 190-22. Natalie Armitage, “European and African Figural Magic: The Beginnings of the Voodoo Doll Myth,” in The Materiality of Magic: An Artifactual Investigation into Ritual Practices and Popular Beliefs, eds. Ceri Houlbrook and Natalie Armitage (Oxford, 2015), 185-212. Alisa Lagamma, “The Recently Acquired Kongo Mangaaka Figure,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 43 (2008): 201-210. Alisa Lagamma, Kongo: Power and Majesty (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015). Ashley’s Piece of Stuff: Becky Little, “Meet Krampus, the Christmas Devil Who Punishes Naughty Children,” History Channel, December 18, 2020, https://www.history.com/news/krampus-christmas-legend-origin.  Amy Tikkanen, "Krampus," Encyclopedia Britannica, October 20, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Krampus.  Tanya Basu, “Who is Krampus? Explaining the Horrific Christmas Beast,” National Geographic, December 5, 2018, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/131217-krampus-christmas-santa-devil?loggedin=true&rnd=1700000799808.  Rachel Nuwer, “In Germany, Santa’s Sidekick is a Cloven-Hooved, Child-Whipping Demon,” Smithsonian Magazine, December 20, 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-germany-santas-sidekick-is-a-cloven-hooved-child-whipping-demon-180948178/.  Also referenced:  Kessler, David. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. New York, NY: Rodale Books, 2009. Mehta, Deepa (dir). Earth. New York, NY: Zeitgeist Films, 1998.

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• S1 Ep18: Episode 18: Thanksgiving Fiascoes and Not a Voodoo Doll Part 1

  In this episode Ashley talks about the disgusting way that Citigroup was denying Armenian credit applicants based on their last names. In her Stuff in the News, Tracey talks about new research that suggests an early Jewish Temple in Egypt had priestesses who issued curses. We are exploring possibilities for a Citigroup Defixio (curse). Ashley’s Piece of Stuff is the creepiest Thanksgiving clown ever to terrorize the children of New York city just trying to innocently watch a parade, and a slew of other traumatizing stuff that Macy’s might have wished to avoid in their 97 years of parades. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff is a figure with pins sticking out of it - it's not a voodoo doll, and along with next week’s figure with pins sticking out of it  she’ll argue that (spoiler alert) voodoo dolls don’t really exist, at least not how the West has perceived them. Tracey’s Stuff in the News: Gad Barnea, “Justice at the House of Yhw(h): An Early Yahwistic Defixio in Furem,” Religions 14 (2023). https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/10/1324 Tom Metcalf, “There are no Israelite Priestesses in the Bible. A 2,400 year-old curse tells a different story,” National Geographic, November 7, 2023. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/jewish-curse-bible-tablet-israelite-priest-women-elephantine Ashley’s Stuff in the News: Emily Flitter, “Citigroup Discriminated against Armenian Americans, Regulator Says,” New York Times, November 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/business/citigroup-discrimination-armenian-americans.html.   Tracey’s Piece of Stuff: Marguerite Johnson, “Spells, charms, erotic dolls: love magic in the ancient Mediterranean,” The Conversation, June 26, 2018. https://theconversation.com/spells-charms-erotic-dolls-love-magic-in-the-ancient-mediterranean-98459 Gideon Bohak, “Aggressive Magic,” Traditions of Magic in Ancient Antiquity,” December, 1995. https://apps.lib.umich.edu/files/exhibits/pap-/magic/def2.html Brent Nongbri, “A cursed figurine,” Variant Readings, January 7, 2023. https://brentnongbri.com/2023/01/07/a-cursed-figurine/ Ogden, Daniel. “NECROMANCY AMONG THE ROMANS.” In Greek and Roman Necromancy, 149–60. Princeton University Press, 2001.  https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32rs3.16. Christopher A. Farone, “Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of “Voodoo Dolls” in Ancient Greece,” Classical Antiquity 10 (1991), 165-205. David Frankenfurter, “‘Voodoo Doll’: Implications and Offense of a Taxonomic Category,” Arethusa 53 (2020): 43-58. Ashley’s Piece of Stuff: Madison Horne, “Quirky Vintage Photos of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” History Channel, November 20, 2020, https://www.history.com/news/quirky-vintage-photos-of-the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade.  Christopher Klein, “The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” History Channel, November 26, 2014, https://www.history.com/news/the-first-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade.  Claire Suddath, “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” Time, November 27, 2008, https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1862565,00.html.  “Congress Establishes Thanksgiving,” National Archives, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving.  Christina Caron, “Macy’s Used to Set the Balloons Free, and Other Thanksgiving Day Parade Facts,” New York Times, November 20, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/nyregion/macys-thanksgiving-parade-facts.html. 

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• S1 Ep17: Episode 17: Eighth Century Sweet Treats and Mysterious Retreats

  Episode 17: Eighth Century Sweet Treats and Mysterious Retreats In this week’s Stuff in the News, Ashley discusses a new database of searchable information about medieval murders…go waste time. Right now! Tracey’s stuff in the news concerns the ongoing plight of the Uighurs in the Xinjiang province of China, where over a million of them are thought to be kept in prison camps making cheap manufactured goods for Western markets. Both of our pieces of stuff this week coincidentally ended up being from our bailiwick period - the eighth century. Ashley introduces us to an Aztec statue of a merchant holding a cocoa pod, and we talk about chocolate with a lot of glee and giggles. Tracey’s piece of stuff is a clay alien mothman door knocker, not really, but that’s what it looks like. It is from a very remote, very mysterious Siberian island, where a complex was built taking up almost the entirety of the island's surface and immediately abandoned before occupation. The mystery is solved…but no spoilers here! Ashley’s Stuff in the News: Isabella Kwai, “Who Killed the Innkeeper with a Sword in 1315?” New York Times, November 2, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/world/europe/historical-murder-map-england.html?searchResultPosition=1.  Medieval Murder Maps, University of Cambridge, accessed November 5, 2023, https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk/.  Slave Voyages Database, Slave Voyages Consortium, accessed November 5, 2023, https://www.slavevoyages.org/.  Tracey’s Stuff in the News:  Joel Gunter, “China has created a hellscape in Xinjiang. Amnesty report says,” BBC,  June 10, 202. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57386625 Ted Regencia, “What you should know about China’s minority Uighurs,” Al Jazeera, July 8, 202. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/8/uighurs-timeline Lily Kuo, “Chinese foreign minister is in Washington. This counts as progress.” Washington Post, October 26, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/26/china-united-states-wang-yi-washington/ Sheridan Prasso, “Temu sells products in US linked to forced labor in China’s Uighur region, Analysis shows,” Bloomberg, July 13, 2022.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-13/temu-sells-products-in-us-linked-to-forced-labor-in-china-s-uyghur-region “China/Uyghurs,” Jewish World Watch. https://jww.org/site/uyghurs-china/ Michael Walsh, “China’s still building detention camps in Xinjiang - and they're getting bigger,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 24, 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-24/china-building-bigger-uyghur-detention-camps-in-xinjiang/12693338 Ashley’s Piece of Stuff:  “Man Carrying a Cacao Pod,” Brooklyn Museum, accessed November 5, 2023, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/50010.  MIT Laboratory for Chocolate Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, accessed November 5, 2023, https://chocolate.mit.edu/.  John Oliver, “Last Week Tonight: Chocolate,” HBO, October 30, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwHMDjc7qJ8.  Cook, L. Russell and R. Paul Singh. "Cocoa." Encyclopedia Britannica, October 28, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/cocoa-food.  Watson, Traci. “Earliest Evidence of Chocolate in North America,” Science, January 22, 2013, https://www.science.org/content/article/earliest-evidence-chocolate-north-america.  Washburn, Dorothy K., William N. Washburn, and Petia A. Shipkova. “Cacao Consumption during the 8th Century at Alkali Ridge, Southeastern Utah.” Journal of Archaeological Science 40, no. 4 (2013): 2007-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.12.017.  Tracey’s Piece of Stuff: Markus Milligan, “Por-Bazhyn - The Mysterious Island Fortress in Siberia,” Heritage Daily, March 21, 2021. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/03/por-bazhyn-the-mysterious-island-fortress-in-siberia/138434 “Radiocarbon Dating Pins Construction of Por-Bajin Island Fortress to 777AD,” Ancient Origins. June 9, 2020 https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/por-bajin-0013834 Lauren Dillion, “What was Por-Bazhyn and Why was it Built?” Historic Mysteries, July 8, 2022.  https://www.historicmysteries.com/por-bazhyn/ Qingyuan Zhang et al, “Modeling cosmic radiation events in the tree ring radiocarbon record,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, October 26, 2022. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2022.0497 “Miyake Event,” Wikipedia. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyake_event A.V. Panin et al, “Radio-carbon based approach capable of subannual precision resolves the origins of the site of Por-Bajin,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (117), June 2020. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342040721_Radiocarbon-based_approach_capable_of_subannual_precision_resolves_the_origins_of_the_site_of_Por-Bajin/citations

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• S1 Ep16: Clockwork Computer, Ice Age Americans, and Big Foot

  Episode 16: Clockwork Computers, Ice Age Americans and Big Foot In this episode Tracey discusses a new sighting of Bigfoot in Colorado, why Sasquatch is interesting to a cultural historian and could such a creature possibly exist, while Ashley is shocked to discover that new entry requirements for Americans traveling abroad are close to what America has been doing to its own visitors. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff this week is a collection of ancient footprints in White Sands, New Mexico that date to the Last Glacial Maximum, 21k and 23k years ago. Ashley’s Piece of Stuff is the remarkable Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient Greek computer for calculating the movement of stars and the dates of the Olympic Games. Ashley’s Stuff in the News:  Allison Pohle, “Trips to Europe Will Require a New Step for American Travelers,” Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/european-travel-authorization-delayed-etias-passports-982e7511.  Tracey’s Stuff in the News: Dac Collins, “Watch: Is this the best Bigfoot Sighting Yet or just a Bowhunter in a Ghillie Suit?” Outdoor Life, October 11, 2023. https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/colorado-bigfoot-train-video/ Noah Brode, “US Belief in Sasquatch has risen since 2020,” Civic Science, August 2, 2022. https://civicscience.com/u-s-belief-in-sasquatch-has-risen-since-2020/ Native Languages of America, “Native American Bigfoot Figures of Myth and Legend,” accessed November 20, 2023 https://www.native-languages.org/legends-bigfoot.htm#google_vignette Ben Crair, “Why do so many people still want to believe in Bigfoot?” Smithsonian Magazine 2018  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-so-many-people-still-believe-in-bigfoot-180970045/ “Density-dependent factor,” Britannica. Com, accessed Nov 20, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/science/density-dependent-factor Cecil Adams, “Could Bigfoot exist in America?” Washington City Paper, December 26th, 2014. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/201481/could-bigfoot-exist-in-north-america-the-latest-updates-in/ Ashley’s Piece of Stuff: Edmunds, Michael "Antikythera Mechanism." Encyclopedia Britannica. October 13, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antikythera-mechanism.  Freeth, Tony. “An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets.” Scientific American. January 1, 2022. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/.  Freeth, Tony et al. “A Model of the Cosmos in the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism.” Scientific Reports 11, no. 5821 (2021). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w#citeas.  McGreevy, Nora. “Scientists May Have Discovered How the Ancient Greeks’ ‘First Computer’ Tracked the Cosmos.” Smithsonian Magazine. March 17, 2021. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-research-illuminates-how-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-may-have-functioned-180977257/.  Chrysopoulos, Philip. “The Antikythera Mechanism Secret Solved.” Greek Reporter. September 15, 2022. https://greekreporter.com/2022/09/15/antikythera-mechanism-secret/.  Marchant, Jo. “Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism, the First Computer.” Smithsonian Magazine. February, 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decoding-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-180953979/.  Sample, Ian. “Scientists May Have Solved Ancient Mystery of ‘First Computer.’” The Guardian. March 12, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/12/scientists-move-closer-to-solving-mystery-of-antikythera-mechanism.  “Scientists Unlock Mysteries of World’s Oldest ‘Computer.’” BBC News. March 12, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56377567.  The article Tracey’s mentioned about clockwork birds is: Jimmy Stoop, “A Brief History of Robotic Bird,” Smithsonian Magazine, May 22, 2013. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff: J. S. Pigati, et. al., “Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands,” Science, October 5, 2023. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh5007 Matthew Bennet et al, “Evidence of Humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum,” Science, September 23, 202.  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586 Carolyn Y. Johnson, “Ancient Footprints upend timeline of human’s arrival in North America,” The Washington Post, October 5, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/10/05/oldest-human-footprint-americas-white-sands/

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