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CHAPTER 2
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH, JESUIT-STYLE FINGER RINGS AND
RELIGIOUS MEDALS
The earliest archaeological studies on Jesuit finger rings sought not to interpret
the symbols or function, but to use the rings as chronological indicators. In 1966,
George Quimby suggested that Jesuit finger rings might be used for dating sites, given
the type of metal they were made of (copper alloy vs. “silver”) and their appearance
among similar historic sites. Quimby referred to brass rings as “excellent markers of
the Middle historic period” (1670-1760). Building on Quimby’s work, Charles
Cleland sought to use stylistic drift among the finger rings to create a means of tracing
internal change “not contingent on other associated trade goods” (Mason 2003:237).
Until very recently, Cleland's work stood alone and the concept of stylistic
drift was very widely regarded. However, Cleland’s piece uses Wray and Schoff’s
proposed Seneca site sequence, which has since been updated by Sempowski and
Saunders (2001), and his argument for dating the sites based on stylistic drift has been
proven incorrect by Mason (see below). Today one can still look to Cleland now to get
a better sense of variations in ring style and design. Like his scholarly predecessors,
Cleland acknowledges some rings’ connection to the Jesuits (Cleland 1972:202). He
points to a letter from Jesuit Father Bruyas written in August of 1669 at the Oneida
mission: “It costs me something, but that is not ill spent. The one who can repeat, on
Sunday, all that has been taught during the week, has for reward a string of colored
glass beads, or two little glass tubes, or two brass rings” (JR 53: 249). However,
Cleland also suggests, given the prevalence of so many replicated designs, that the
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