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Past Magic: Histories and Archaeologies of the Supernatural

Module description

Beliefs about magic and the supernatural have been a feature of many past societies across the globe, and the evidence for them survives in many different forms, including texts, landscapes, and objects. At the same time, however, ‘magic’ is a contested term which is difficult to apply uncritically to past societies. This module introduces the evidence for magic in past societies, using case studies from a range of periods and places to present the historical and archaeological frameworks for studying magic. It also asks how far broad concepts like ‘magic’ or ‘the supernatural’ help us to understand the beliefs of past societies. It will be team taught, exploring examples from the module tutors’ research areas.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will develop an understanding of how objects, landscapes and historical texts can be used to understand magic and the supernatural, and practise the skills needed to interpret them, through a series of case studies covering a range of periods and approaches.  You will also learn to reflect critically on how the concepts of ‘magic’ and ‘the supernatural’ have developed in scholarly writing, and the challenges involved in applying them to past societies which viewed the universe very differently.

Key aims of the module are first, to introduce students to a wide range of primary evidence for studying magic and the supernatural, and second, to introduce them to some of the approaches taken by modern scholars, encouraging them to critically evaluate the challenges scholars face in understanding past supernatural beliefs.

The module also gives students the opportunity to develop their skills in collaborative working if wanted, and there is an option for the assessment of the module to consist of a group project focused on a particular topic or category of magic or the supernatural (e.g. angels, demons, fairies, healing, landscape, divination). The project will ask students to write a public-facing output (such as a podcast pitch or captions for an exhibition) which traces the history of the topic, reflecting on the methodological challenges of studying and presenting the topic, and the wider context in which attitudes to magic and the supernatural changed. Some of the seminar slots will therefore be project support sessions, in which students work on their group projects with the tutor present, and give a presentation to gain feedback from the group. For students taking the essay option there will be the chance to work on essays in this slot

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the different types of written and archaeological evidence that can inform us about magic and the supernatural and the challenges of interpreting this evidence
• 2. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of key themes and approaches in the study of magic and the supernatural.
• 3. Locate and evaluate critically the relevant primary and secondary source materials required to investigate a specific historical or methodological question relating to the history of magic and the supernatural.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Develop a greater awareness of how textual and archaeological evidence is interpreted
• 5. Understand the importance of different interpretations of the evidence
• 6. Demonstrate an ability to analyse and synthesise widely different types of historical and archaeological evidence

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Devise an appropriate research project

Syllabus plan

This will be a team-taught module and the syllabus will vary according to the composition of the module team and student choice. Whilst the content may vary from year to year the following list offers an indication of the types of topics covered:

• Magic and Medicine
• Archaeology and Ethnography of Magic, Medicine and Ritual
• Magico-Religious practices and ‘shamanism’
• Role of Material Culture in Magic
• Medieval and Early Modern Concepts of the Supernatural
• Magical Texts
• Witchcraft
• Supernatural Beings
• The ‘Disenchantment of the World’

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages 3^rd edn (Cambridge, 2020)
• Sophie Page and Catherine Rider, ed., The Routledge History of Medieval Magic (London, 2019)
• Ronald Hutton, The Witch: A History of Fear from Ancient Times to the Present (New Haven, 2017)
• David J. Collins (ed.), The Sacred and the Sinister: Studies in medieval religion and magic (Penn State, 2019)
• Augé, C., Field Manual for the Archaeoogy of Ritual, Religion and Magic (Berlin, 2022)
• Manning, M. Chris ‘Magic, Religion, and Ritual in Historical Archaeology’ Historical Archaeology 48 (2014), 1-9
• Frankfurter, David (ed.), Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic (Leiden, 2019)
• Levack, Brian P. (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America (Oxford, 2013)
• Davies, Owen (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic (Oxford, 2016)
• Collins, David J. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Magic in the West (Cambridge, 2012)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• Societas Magica website https://www.societasmagica.org/

Key words search

Magic, Supernatural, Ritual, Archaeology, History