Friday, January 11, 2008

Urban Archeology

As I was doing a bit of digging in my back yard, not deep by any means, lo and behold my shovel hit something hard. I was hoping for gold coins or maybe at least an arrowhead but when I dug it out and brushed it off it was a . . . horseshoe. Kind of cool to find a horseshoe in your back yard. Maybe even good luck too.

I'm in Trinity Park, and my house was built around 1925, so I suppose there could've been horses around here not so very, very long ago?

From, here's some info on horseshoe symbolism:
The use of worn-out horseshoes as magically protective amulets -- especially hung above or next to doorways -- originated in Europe, where one can still find them nailed onto houses, barns, and stables from Italy through Germany and up into Britain and Scandinavia. Additionally, wall hangings made in the form of horseshoes are common. In the Middle-East, one finds the terra cotta blue glazed horseshoe plaque. In Turkey small metal or blue glass horseshoes are blended with the protective all seeing eye to form a unique apotropaic charm i call the horseshoe-and-eyes that is believed to ward off the evil eye.


Jeff Hart said...

i think there was some farmland over that way according to something i read about the history of durham. of course, it could have also have been a lost horseshoe from an old horseshoe (game) pit. find a metal post out there too? let's get a metal detector over there right away!

Nellicious Bly said...

Yeah, well, this 1891 map shows your place is all land, so a pasture would not be surprising. Now we need some carbon dating of your horseshoe!

Fritz said...

I used to work as a farrier for ten years up in New York.

I can tell you by the shape of that shoe it came off a rather large mule.

Most likely a draft mule used for plowing. They have a very distinct shape to their foot

Durham Bull Pen said...

Fritz--thank you so much for that information! It makes it even more special to me to know that bit of information. A mule!