The materiality of magic: an artifactual investigation into ritual practices and popular beliefs

The value of the material record as a resource in investigations into magic, ritual practices, and popular beliefs is addresses here.

The chronological and geographic focuses of the papers presented here vary from prehistory to the present-day, including numinous interpretations of fossils and ritual deposits in Bronze Age Europe; apotropaic devices in Roman and medieval Britain; the evolution of superstitions and ritual customs - from the 'voodoo doll' of Europe and Africa to a Scottish 'wishing-tree'; and an exploration of spatiality in West African healing practices.