Archaeologists excavating an early Roman imperial tomb in Turkey have found evidence of unusual burial practices. Instead of the typical method of cremation on a funeral pyre and moving the remains to their final resting place, these burnt remains were left in place and covered with brick tiles and a layer of lime. Finally, several dozen bent and twisted nails were scattered around the burn site, some with heads cut off. Archaeologists suggest that this is evidence of magical thinking, specifically an attempt to prevent the dead from rising from the grave to haunt the living. recent article published in Antiquity magazine.

Perhaps the best-known examples of this superstitious burial practice are the so-called “vampire” burials that are found from time to time in archaeological sites around the world. In the early 1990s, children playing in Connecticut stumbled upon the remains of a 19th-century middle-aged man, identified only by the initials “JB55” written in brass tacks on his coffin. His skull and hips were neatly folded into a skull and crossbones pattern, leading archaeologists to conclude that the man was a suspected “vampire” in his community. Since then they have found probable identification for JB55 and reconstructed what that person might have looked like.

In 2018, archaeologists unearthed the skeleton of a 10-year-old child at an ancient Roman site in Italy with a rock carefully placed in its mouth. This suggests that those who buried a child who probably died of malaria during a deadly outbreak in the 5th century feared that he might rise from the dead and spread the disease to those who survived. The locals call him the “Lugnano Vampire”. And last year, archaeologists disclosed an unusual example of people using these tips in a 17th-century Polish cemetery near Bydgoszcz: a female skeleton buried with a sickle around her neck, as well as a padlock on her left big toe.

This latest find is part of the KU Leuven research project in Belgium to excavate a specific area. Sagalassos site in southwestern Turkey. Humans have inhabited this region since the late 5th century BC. until the middle of the 13th century AD, despite significant damage from the earthquake of the 7th century AD. The area under consideration is somewhat secluded and delimited from the central and residential parts of the city. It consists of several adjacent terraces, which have come to be used for funerary purposes. An early Roman imperial tomb was first discovered in 1990, and in 2012 archaeologists resumed work in the immediate area, finding evidence of both burials and cremations spanning roughly six centuries.

Scattered nails were found on a roughly rectangular patch of scorched earth: the remains of a funeral pyre with fragments of pine and scar, as well as charred human bones. The charred bones belonged to a single individual, most likely a male who died around the age of 18 based on osteological analysis. The bone fragments were still roughly anatomically arranged, with no traces of handling during or after cremation.

Some of the charcoal remains turned out to be fabrics suggesting clothing or a shroud. Several artifacts were also found along with the charred remains: a coin from the 2nd century CE, a handful of pottery vessels from the 1st century CE, two blown glass urns, and an object of worked bone with bronze hinges intended for the unknown. This indicates that the mourners appear to have followed at least some of the traditional funeral rites.

These are 41 broken and bent nails – 25 bent at 90 degrees with the heads torn off, 16 bent and twisted, but otherwise intact – recovered from the place that distinguished this cremation. These were not coffin nails, which are usually found intact, and nails were not used in the construction of the funeral pyre. Thus, the authors concluded that the scattered broken nails were deliberately placed around the burial site to form a “magical barrier”. In several ancient literary sources, there are mentions that nails were used to protect against diseases (Livy) or as a protection against nightmares (Pliny the Elder).