Excuse me? At least 50 % (I've seen different stats, but they are all in the 
same range) of the people enslaved in Africa and brought here came from the 
Bakongo region, so would have been part of that larger spiritual 
tradition...the region was (is) really huge. Many of the rest came from 
Yoruba regions, and at some of the archaeological sites you question there 
appears to be an admixture of uses which reflect both traditions. AND, yes, 
Christianity too. That is people who were from, or were descended from, 
Bakongo people did "use that symbol", in a variety of ways and guises. It 
hardly matters whether the original potter who put the cross on the bowl or 
whatever was a member of a Bakongo group. What's important is that someone 
used THAT particular bowl, in a certain way, associated with other objects.

We had a similar discussion on this a few years ago, with the same 
skepticism, and similar players. Which is fair enough, except for the 
snarkiness.

One the one hand, skeptics will admit that they aren't up on the most recent 
DATA. I'm talking about real data, not just speculation and untested 
assumptions. On the other, they say they've "seen the evidence" and have 
rejected it. C'mon...It's an evolving body of research, and the web of 
associations --a growing network of examples -- between different sites, 
groups, contexts, etc. is getting pretty huge by now. And, yes, even as 
people were using found-and-created items in ways which may have referenced 
their ancestral beliefs, they could also have embraced Christian symbols, 
like crosses, in part because they were similar to those they were already 
comfortable with. These are not mutually exclusive ideas or expressions. 
Consider the fact that the Grace Methodist Church was founded at the Jordan 
Plantation, during the same period in which some people at the plantation 
appear to have been practicing African healing and other practices.

The EXPRESSED meanings of various symbols may have shifted to reflect the 
context that people were living in, but that's not to say that there weren't 
structural reasons why certain symbols and traditions found resonance with 
some people when they were exposed to them in a different setting.  And this 
shows up in the material remains. One scholar I read said "Africans didn't 
convert to Christianity -- they converted Christianity to themselves" (I 
forget the citation, sorry, but it says what I am trying to say). And it's 
not just "cosmograms", either -- the most recent research, not only from 
archaeology but also folklore studies, sees the so-called "cosmogram" as 
really being an expression of the importance of cardinal-direction symbols. 
Which we've talked about before on this list.  Either way, more and more 
sites are showing this stuff. While it's true that some archaeologists are 
indeed interested in finding it, if it's there, it's also true that these 
sorts of artifacts and, more importantly, artifact contexts, WON'T be 
noticed unless the right questions are asked by someone who is knowledgeable 
about what to look for. AND who uses fine-grained field and analytical 
methods which will reveal this level of detail in the deposit. Which gets me 
into a whole other discussion about method, but I really don't want to go 
there.

Are these connections "proved"?!? I know I'm showing my postprocessualist 
stripes here, but BAH (said in the nicest possible way!). Buy the arguments, 
or not, but at least get up to date on the most recent stuff and give the 
researchers credit for doing sound archaeology, not just making this stuff 
up.

Carol (I really did try to stay quiet...oh well).

****************************
Carol McDavid, Ph.D.
1638 Branard
Houston, TX 77006
www.webarchaeology.com
www.publicarchaeology.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl Steen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: Concealed objects in buildings


>
> I have seen the evidence and do not buy it. Show me one clear example of a
> 17th or 18th century group that used that symbol (the so-called "Bakongo
> Cosmogram"), and then show me one example of a member  of that group even 
> coming
> to North America. If you can show me that, prove they were the potters
> responsible. I will be happy to apologize. But I don't think any of the 
> three can be
> proven, and that the people who accept this evidence do so because  they
> simply want to believe it. I say this because the  enslaved African 
> Americans
> lived in a militantly Christian environment not  known for tolerance of 
> any
> competing views - even within Christianity. Catholics  were banned in 
> South Carolina
> under British rule for instance. Slaves recieved  religious instruction in
> South Carolina from at least the 1710s, and after the  rise of Baptist and
> Methodist faiths later in the 18th century both races  flocked to camp 
> meetings and
> services. If we were looking for a supporatble  argument I'd argue that 
> they
> are Christian crosses, not some unknown African  symbol. Then, lets not 
> forget
> that a cross in a circle is one of the foermost  symbols of the 
> Southeastern
> Indians - who made up nearly 30% of the slaves in SC  as late as 1730. No, 
> I
> just can't buy the "Bakongo Cosmogram" idea.
>
>