On an episode of Antiques Roadshow, a glass expert tasted “port” from a 180-year-old object used for this purpose, only to later find out that the “wine” was a mixture of hair, alcohol, urine, and brass pins. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this purpose accomplished by the burial of horse skulls and mummified cats in the walls of houses. Grotesques like hunky punks were potentially used for this purpose, shared by apotropaic icons like the Gorgoneion.
ANSWER: protection from witchcraft [accept answers indicating protection from or warding against evil magic or evil or harm or misfortune or sickness and the like; accept protection from or warding out specific entities like the evil eye, demons, witches, spirits, and similar; accept counter-magic; prompt on partial answer] (The 180-year-old object was a witch bottle.)
[10h] “Concealed” examples of these items were frequently buried in European buildings as protective charms. Calceology studies these items, the oldest known examples of which were found in Oregon’s Fort Rock Cave.
ANSWER: shoes [accept other types of footwear like sandals and boots]
[10e] “Anti-witch” marks carved into British buildings featured flowers surrounded by overlapping examples of this pattern. Henges like the Rollright Stones and Stonehenge commonly feature standing stones arranged in this shape, as seen from above.
ANSWER: circles [accept rings; accept concentric pattern]