"There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme, with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19132. Debates over its meaning and origin have largely centered on atte
Illustration by W. W. Denslow, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
Folding card, 1883
The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic is an archaeological study of the material evidence for ritual and magical practices in Europe, containing a particular emphasis on London and South East England. I
The first edition cover of the book, depicting a 17th-century bellarmine witch-bottle found in an old mill-stream, Great College Street, London
Merrifield noted that archaeologists studying Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe regularly recognised the ritual significance of monuments, such as this stone circle at Swinside, England, but that those studying later periods of history often neglected to consider ritual explanations.
An example of the Sator Square, a magical practice widely found throughout Europe from ancient times to the present day; this example is from Oppède in France.