Bent and twisted nails found next to human remains buried at an ancient Roman site in Turkey were likely used to prevent the “restless dead” from returning and harming the living, according to a newly published study.
Sagalas Archaeological Research Project.
An unusual and ancient Roman burial site unearthed in Turkey reveals reverence and respect for the dead — but also a powerful sense of dread among the living, according to a recent study.
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At the Sagalassos site lay the ruins of what was once a community encompassed by the Roman Empire, established in 500 B.C. and abandoned roughly 1200 A.D., researchers said in the study published Feb. 21 in the journal Antiquity. And among those ruins is a plateau, elevated and relatively secluded, an ideal resting place for the dead. But one tomb stands out amid the necropolis.
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A man died and his body was cremated on the spot that would be his grave. His ashes weren’t gathered up, as would have been typical at the time, but sealed with brick and solidified lime while they still smoldered.
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Scattered around this burial are “dead nails,” nails that were purposefully bent and twisted to serve as magical charms. They were another layer of protection, researchers said.
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Whoever laid this man to rest was afraid of him coming back.
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“The combination of nails and bricks designed to restrain the dead with the sealing effect of the lime strongly implies a fear of the restless dead,” researchers said in the paper. “(Regardless of his cause of death) … it appears to have left the dead intent on retaliation and the living fearful of the deceased’s return.”
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Despite the fear felt by those who buried him, the tomb was respectfully furnished with worldly goods like perfumes, food, clothing and Charon’s obol.
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Why would a man respected in life be feared in death?
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It’s not that simple, according to Johan Claeys, archaeologist at Catholic University Leuven in Belgium.
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“Fear of the deceased certainly not only stemmed from a life of ‘terror,’” Claeys told McClatchy News in an email. “Contemporary authors more often refer to a ‘bad death’ as a reason to fear the possible ‘haunting’ by the deceased.”
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A “bad death” could happen numerous ways, including violent deaths, or mysterious and unexplainable deaths, Claeys said. In the case of the Sagalassos burial, he believes circumstances point to an “unexplained disease, especially because of the perceived disinfecting properties of quicklime,” a chemical which had been found amid the remains.
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Though dead nails have been documented in other Roman ruins, their presence here in combination with the other funerary rites is not only highly unusual, but it also suggests that the people responsible believed in magic, according to researchers.
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“Caution is obviously needed when venturing to reconstruct the motivations of the mourners, but they appear to have followed most of the rites associated with a normative burial, while simultaneously shielding the community from any possible harm from the restless dead, using nails, bricks and lime,” the paper said.
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