African American Bundles
African American spirit bundles made in Annapolis and at Wye House Plantation are among the biggest, most comprehensively excavated, and well described that are available through historical archaeology. Each of the bundles was stratigraphically excavated. They are all photographed
Initially Archaeology in Annapolis called these caches, but they are more properly called bundles. In the WPA Slave Narratives these are called mojos, hands, fixins, tobys, and are a part of Hoodoo and are associated with conjure. The material culture of black plantation religion and of the Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) and African Methodist Episcopal Churches (A.M.E.) usage compose a completely different way of seeing the solutions to the suffering inside slavery, tenant farm life, and life during Jim Crow.
Research on spirit bundles found through archaeology is quite new. The materials on this website should facilitate needed research on African American religious sensibilities.
Download a compilation of excerpts about African-American bundles from Archaeology in Annapolis site reports [PDF 13.7 MB] or from former slave narrative interviews [PDF 9.1 MB].
Bundles Described in Site Reports
| Site Name | Site Number | Number of Bundles | Location of Descriptive Text | Location of Images | Location of Maps or Figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slayton House | 18AP74 | 7-11 | 1, 33-35, 37, 52-53, 56-60, 85-87, 90-91, 97-98, 129 | 59a, 59b, 59c, 59d, 59e | 2-3 |
| Carroll House | 18AP45 | 2 | 123-128 136-142, 160-165, 239-241 | 141, 142 | 3, 124, 129, 131 |
| Reynolds Tavern | 18AP23 | 2 | i-ii, 138-151, 153-154 | 144, | 132, 140, 142, 144 |
| Brice House, East Wing | 18AP38 | 1 | i, 151-162, 181, 299-331, 400-404 | 162, 297, 312, 322, 603-604, 606, 613-617 | 152, 153, 156, 161, 298, 304, 306, 308, 314, 327 |
| Adams-Kilty House | 18AP107 | 2 | 33-37, 62-63, 66-67, 71-73 | 34, 36 | 35 |
| James Holiday House | 18AP116 | 1 | 62-64, 71, 106-107, 110 | 63, 106 | |
| Fleet Street bundle | 18AP111 | 1 | i, 72-77, 80, 111-112, 143-144 | 74, 76 | 18, 78-79 |
| Wye House | 18TA345 | ||||
| Greenhouse | |||||
| Threshold | 1 | 89-100, 168-169 | 91, 95, 168 | 98-99, 164 | |
| Hothouse | 1 | 11-12, 18-26 | |||
| Slave Quarter | 1 | Report not yet written | |||
| Captain's Cottage | 1 | Report not yet written | |||
| Asbury Tabernacle | 18TA442 | 1 | Report not yet written |