• Leather Ornaments: Decorative metal pieces that are primarily related to horse tack, but might also be found on other leather goods such as sword belts and firearm straps.
• Bridle Bosses: Decorative metal attachments for curb bits that conceal the area where the bit’s mouth-pieces and cheek pieces attach.
• Bodkins: Large and sometimes personalized blunt needles used for threading ribbons and laces through clothing and hair.
• Sleeve Buttons, Cufflinks, and Studs: This category includes all closures for clothing that were not permanently attached or sewn to a garment.
• Smoker’s Companions: These tools were used by 17th and 18th-century pipe smokers for packing, lighting, and cleaning pipes.
• Religious Artifacts: This category includes any artifacts that were made with some kind of religious symbolism in mind, such as saint medals, a Madonna figurine, a reliquary, etc.

As time and funding permit, we plan to expand the Diagnostic Artifacts website to include a variety of other small finds from Maryland’s archaeological sites. Additionally, each small find category will grow as more examples are discovered. New collections arrive at the MAC Lab regularly, and we are also partnering with other institutions that curate Maryland archaeological collections to add their data as well. At this point we have included artifacts that are curated by the following outside institutions:

• The Anne Arundel County Lost Towns Project
• The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, Prince George’s County Archaeology Lab.