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.

Member’s report:

Jamestown, founded in 1607, was a foothold in a Protestant New World, which is why the excavation of forty-nine jet objects caused surprise. It was suggested that they were Spanish in origin and devotional in practice – was there a significant number of Catholic recusants among the settlers?  Sarah Stone, a leading expert on jet, says no – the jet came from Britain, and the objects provided protection against witches.

Jet is fossilised wood: it is difficult to be much more specific about it, as it defies most means of analysis, though stable isotope analysis is looking promising. ‘Jetonising’ is something which happens to wood over a long time, in the presence of oil.  In some cases the wood already contained the oil; in others the oil was in the environment – such as in the North Sea.   As jet from different sources varies so much there is no agreed geological definition. Marie Stopes concluded from her studies that the word ‘jet’ was as useful as ‘cheese’ – necessary, but not sufficient.  What people have agreed about it, from the very beginning, is that it is special – it is easily carved, takes a mirror polish and can generate static electricity; it never feels cold; it rings when struck and is combustible. It is magic, associated with protection from thunder and sorcery, and is Britain’s only world-class gemstone. The lecturer concluded that though widely used by Catholics for rosary beads and crucifixes these forty-nine objects crossed the Atlantic due to folkloric belief, not religious conviction.

Felicity Hurst