Robyn S. Lacy earned her PhD in Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She runs a historic gravestone preservation business with her husband in Newfoundland, which takes them all across the island and beyond. Her first book, Burial and Death in Colonial North America, was published in 2020, and she regularly writes about her research on her website, spadeandthegrave.com.

"The wealth of detail in this book will keep the enthusiast dipping back in to deepen their understanding (it even surveys protective marks in modern culture, ranging from New Age iconography of the hexfoil as sacred geometry and the ‘flower of life’, to cults, video games and even tattoos). Its comprehensive and accessible narrative provides a platform on which the reader can base their own exploration of whichever branch of the subject interests them. Robyn Lacy has delivered a book that not only informs but inspires the reader to notice – and perhaps even record – the often-overlooked evidence of life's intriguing mysteries that surround us. We can but look forward to more from this author. " Brislington Community News“As an analysis of the distribution and Extent of the symbol in northern America this book is a must read for graveyard historians… this is an interesting book which is an attempt to narrate the use of [the W] symbol in funerary contexts over the last couple of millennia.” Current Archaeology

• List of FiguresList of TablesAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Protective Marks & ObjectsChapter 2. Hexfoils in a Mortuary ContextChapter 3. The Reformation and Medieval MagicsChapter 4. Survey of Protective Marks on GravestonesChapter 5. Results of SurveyChapter 6. Modern Interpretations of the Hexfoil and other Protective MarksChapter 7. Protective Marks on Gravestones – Past and PresentReferences