Dave,

Before we get too psychospiritual, the anthropologist in me suggests we seek
cultural connections before drawing parallels between Andean and European
customs. There is a greater chance the African slaves learned European pagan
concealment magic from their European owners or neighboring tenant farmers
than the off-chance Andean religion penetrated the American South. I am not
being facetious, but early anthropologists were roundly criticized for
calling everything they could not explain as "religious" which led to the
knee-jerk reaction that nothing could be ascribed as religious. This
criticism of teleological thinking and knee-jerk rejection of religion is, I
believe, why American historic archaeologists have totally missed ritual
concealment features in historic contexts. And, I might add, architectural
historians monitoring demolition or removal of building fabric also failed to
see or ignored concealments in walls, under floors, and in chimneys. I
brought this point to the attention of the SHA in the latest newsletter under
the report on U.S. Army, Fort Rosecrans in the Pacific Report (although the
newsletter editor did not include my name as author), which Maureen could
cite.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.