Archaeology and Religion at the Hyde Park Barracks Destitute Asylum, Sydney.

Religion and spirituality have often been neglected by historical archaeologists, in spite of the importance of religious devotion in public and private life. Recent investigation of artifacts from the Hyde Park Barracks Destitute Asylum in Sydney, Australia, however, has begun to shed new light on the role of spirituality in an institutional context. An extensive underfloor collection from the asylum includes many paper fragments from the Bible and from religious tracts, along with rosaries and devotional medals. This material suggests that while visiting clergymen and missionaries distributed large quantities of "improving" literature, the inmates expressed their own religious feelings in more personal, private ways. The archaeological and historical evidence also indicates that Catholic inmates were separated from Anglicans and others, mirroring the wider sectarian division in 19th-century Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]