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Dear Jonny - At the Pitt Rivers Museum we hold five pieces of coal recorded as carried for luck, from Edward Lovett's collection of amulets, which came to us from the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1985. One is described as "Carried in pocket for good luck by a waitress in a cheap London restaurant, 1908", while three (one from Exmouth in Devon and two from Deal in Kent) are recorded as shore-worn coal given to sailors to bring luck. I'd be happy to send you some photos if that would be helpful. DH ........................................ Dan Hicks MCIfA, FSA University of Oxford http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/DH1.html https://twitter.com/profdanhicks On 12 Feb 2016, at 16:28, Orange, Hilary <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Hi Jonny, One place I suggest looking is the use of coal as an artefact within mine museum interpretation. If you've never seen or had a coal fire you may not know coal looks like (thinking of younger generations here). Also, the use of quantities of coal within reconstructions. Also suggest contacting Big Pit, National Coal Mining Museum and project team behind this - http://www.thinkamigo.com/project/history-of-coal-mining-in-10-objects/ Hilary -----Original Message----- From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical Archaeology [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gardner, Jonathan Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 4:12 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Coal as artefact? Good afternoon, I was wondering if any list members had come across anything written (or indeed written themselves) about coal as an artefact/ecofact? I.e. rather than industrial archaeology of a coal mining industry or mine but instead, the materiality and use of the substance itself either as single lump etc or as a mass, and its affordance/use by by humans in broader sense. Struggling to find anything written from a more object-centric point of view. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Cheers Jonny -- Jonathan Gardner PhD Candidate [log in to unmask] Room G7B UCL Institute of Archaeology 31-34 Gordon Square London WC1H 0PY -------------------------- contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events in contemporary and historical archaeology, and for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group. ------- For email subscription options see: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html ------- Visit the CHAT website for more information and for future meeting dates: http://www.contemp-hist-arch.ac.uk --------------------------