The page has been created to promote and disseminate research into medieval & historical graffiti; the archaeological identification of apotropaic symbols and the practice of concealing objects within buildings to ward against misfortune. Contributions are welcomed!
A Symbol’s Journey: Pentangle, Pentacle, Pentalpha & Pentagram: The Endless Appropriation of the Endless Knot
The oft-repeated symbol of the pentangle (pentacle, pentalpha or pentagram) is believed to have travelled to Northern Europe from the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia of the third millennium BCE through the classical Greek and Roman worlds into Celtic Gaul by the 1st century BC. By the early medieval period, the protective qualities of the five-pointed-star (or ‘endless knot’) symbol is said to have been harnessed by Sir Gawain to defeat the Green Knight.
Here, in the story of Faust (illustrated by Fritz Kredel in a humorous 20th century woodcut), when placed at the threshold of a building, it prevents Mephistopheles from leaving having once entered the room.
(Drudenfuss=pentagram but also a wizard’s or witch’s ‘foot’).
I am an archaeologist with over twenty years of experience. After a decade or so working as a volunteer on excavations in the 1990’s, I undertook my degree in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. In the last year of my degree I helped to supervise the university’s annual excavations.
Directly after my exams I began my career in Commercial Archaeology as a Field Archaeologist with Oxford Archaeology and remained there for four years. Anticipating a career in archaeology in France I volunteered on excavations at Rom and at Prisse-la-Charriere, Niort (for Poitiers & Rennes University respectively). In due course I worked for the States’ premier scientific organization, I.N.R.A.P. (Institut Nationale des Récherches Archéologiques Préventives) as well as for a number of private companies.
I returned to the UK in 2013 and resumed my role as a Supervisor, undertaking projects around Oxfordshire with John Moore Heritage Services before moving to London in 2014.
I now undertake Historic Building Surveys and supervise urban excavations in the City of London as well as overseeing rural excavations in surrounding Sussex, Surrey & Kent.
Wayne Perkins
BA Hons (Archaeology)
ACIfA (Associate Member, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)
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Ritual Protection Marks & Ritual Practices 