Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

“Gems of Salvation or Stones of Damnation: Could Whitby’s Jet Rewrite the Story of Colonial America?”

Sarah Caldwell Steele, Curator of Jet at Whitby Museum

Abstract:

This talk explores the discovery of jet jewellery from excavations at Jamestown, Virginia—the first permanent British colony in North America—and the implications that scientific provenancing may hold for early American history. Traditionally interpreted as Spanish jet and viewed as evidence of recusant Catholic settlers, these artefacts tell a different story when examined through the lens of cultural belief and material science. If confirmed to be British, their presence suggests that folkloric counter-witchcraft practices reached North America nearly two decades before the first documented American witch trials.

Bio:

Sarah Caldwell Steele—Curator of Jet at Whitby Museum—fell in love with Whitby jet at seven. With over forty years of commercial lapidary experience, a geology degree, and Fellowships of the Gemmological Association, she is now the leading authority on jet. She is also a PhD researcher at Durham University developing new ways to identify and classify ancient carbonaceous materials in the archaeological record.

2.30pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum on Tuesday 13 January

YPS Members and students free; non members £5.