In ancient Rome, people may have feared the “restless dead”, according to the discovery of a cremation tomb strewn with intentionally bent nails and sealed not only with two dozen bricks but also with a layer of plaster, according to a new study.
The unusual grave, found at Sagalassos site (opens in a new tab) in southwestern Turkey and dating from AD 100-150, had 41 bent and twisted nails strewn along the edges of its cremation pyre, 24 bricks that had been meticulously placed on the still-smoldering pyre, and a layer of lime plaster on top of that. The individual – an adult male – was cremated and buried in the same location, an unusual practice in roman periodaccording to the study, published February 21 in the journal antiquity (opens in a new tab).
“The burial was closed in not one, not two, but three different ways that can be understood as attempts to shield the living from the dead – or the other way around,” the first author studies. John Claeys (opens in a new tab), an archaeologist at the Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven) in Belgium, told Live Science in an email. Although each of these practices are known from Roman-era cemeteries – cremation in place, coverings with tiles or plaster, and the occasional twisted toenail – the combination of the three has never been seen before and involves a fear of the “restless dead “. he said.
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The archaeological site of Sagalassos was occupied from the 5th century BC. to the 13th century AD and is home to many examples of Roman-era architecture, including a theater and a spa complex. Following its abandonment, vegetation quickly invaded the city, preserving it.
As a member of Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project (opens in a new tab), the graves on the outskirts of the town have been excavated and studied, including “non-normative cremation”. Typically, Roman-era cremations involved a funeral pyre followed by the collection of the cremations, which were placed in an urn and then buried in a tomb or placed in a mausoleum. The cremation of Sagalassos, however, was performed on site, which the researchers were able to infer from the anatomical positioning of the remaining bones.
Even more unusual was the contrast between the grave goods and the closure of the tomb. Archaeologists found typical grave goods – fragments of a woven basket, food remains, a coin, and ceramic and glass vessels. “It seems clear that the deceased was buried with all appropriate aplomb,” Claeys said. “It seems likely that was the right way to part with a loved one at the time.”
Marco Milella (opens in a new tab), a researcher at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland who was not involved in this study, told Live Science in an email that “I tend to agree with their conclusion” on twisted fingernails, which Milella says are frequently found in Western European cemeteries dating from the first to second centuries AD” The sealing of the remains is also interesting and tantalizing given its possible association with the deposition nails,” Milella noted. “Fear of the dead is a possibility, as well as amulets to protect the dead – or both, perhaps.”
Claeys believes the man in this bizarre cremation grave was likely buried by his relatives in a ceremony that would have taken days to plan and complete. The set of beliefs that encouraged the people of Sagalassos to bury this man in an unconventional way is best understood as a form of magic (opens in a new tab), or an act intended to have specific effects due to a supernatural connection. It is possible that his bizarre burial was done to thwart an unusual or unnatural death; however, the researchers found no evidence of trauma or disease to the bones. Unfortunately, even though the “magical cremation” overlaps in time with other graves, Claeys said “it cannot be established with certainty whether or not family members were buried nearby” because DNA is usually destroyed by high temperatures in ancient cremations.
“Regardless of whether the cause of (the man’s) death was traumatic, mysterious, or potentially the result of a contagious disease or punishment,” the researchers concluded in the study, it appears to have left “the living frightened by the return of the deceased”.