Curse tablet found in Roman-era grave in France targets enemies by invoking Mars, the god of war

A skeleton is lying in the ground with its skull at the right. There are artifacts between the legs near the pelvis, with an arrow pointing to a "tablette de defixion" or curse tablet. — A skeleton found during excavations beneath a historic hospital in Orléans, France, has a curse tablet between its legs.

(Image credit: Service Archéologie Orléans (SAVO))

Archaeologists in France have discovered dozens of Roman-era graves of men who were buried with "curse tablets," at least one of which was written in an extinct language.

Excavations underneath an 18th-century hospital in the town of Orléans, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Paris, have revealed more than 60 burials arranged in a single row along a wall. The cemetery, which dates from the end of the first century to the beginning of the third century, was atypical for this time because the burials were dug in a row, there were no women or children, there were traces of painted wooden coffins, and there were no cremations. This could mean that the dead were from a particular group, such as members of the same profession, according to the Orléans Archaeology Service, which excavated the site.

The man in grave F2199 was buried with a curse tablet between his legs, next to a crushed vase and several coins. After the tablet was recovered from the grave, an expert in restoration techniques chemically treated the thin lead plate to protect it from corrosion. Then, photographs were taken using reflectance transformation imaging, which produced a clear image of the unrolled tablet. Additional experts then set to work deciphering the Latin cursive inscription and translating the Gaulish words.

Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.