Posted on 03/14/2023 1:56:53 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In ancient Roman times, people may have feared the "restless dead," according to the discovery of a cremation tomb sprinkled with intentionally bent nails and sealed not only with two dozen bricks but also a layer of plaster, a new study finds.
The unusual grave, found at the site of Sagalassos(opens in new tab) in southwestern Turkey and dating to A.D. 100-150, had 41 bent and twisted nails scattered 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 place, an unusual practice in Roman times, according to the study, published Feb. 21 in the journal Antiquity(opens in new tab).
The archaeological site of Sagalassos was occupied from the fifth century B.C. to the 13th century A.D. and boasts numerous examples of Roman-era architecture, including a theater and a bath complex. Following its abandonment, vegetation quickly overgrew the city, preserving it.
As part of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project(opens in new tab), burials in the outskirts of the town were excavated and studied, including the "non-normative cremation." Typically, Roman-era cremations involved a funeral pyre followed by the collection of the cremains, which were put in an urn and then buried in a grave or placed in a mausoleum. The Sagalassos cremation, however, was performed in place, which the researchers could tell from the anatomical positioning of the remaining bones.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I think I see a new Sci-Fi Channel movie coming out in a few months.
I’ve seen that movie. Seal it back up and move along.
PING
Will the magic nails work on the restless lefties?
Only at short range.
Sorry Romans, try as you might Hillary still walks the earth.
Bent nails are a traditional confinement talisman for evil spirits. There might have been a sigil inscribed into the plaster covering as well. And the bricks would have been arranged in a distinctive pattern.
Yes, "Seal it back up and move along".
Another explanation for the coffins locked and secured from the outside might have been people “mistakenly” buried while comatose or otherwise still alive.
As most know, this was not unheard of during the Victorian era.
Doctors were still perfecting their craft. Sometimes a body would be buried inside a coffin with a little bell attached onto the interior lid.
The idea being if someone were to awaken inside a dark coffin, all they need do is to pull a string, makes the bells ring and let the Mortician know of his unfortunate error.
Thus came the phrase; “Saved By the Bell”. That would make a nice bedtime story for the little ones. Don’t you think?
**Thus came the phrase; “Saved By the Bell”***
And later Bateson made a small belfry that was placed on the grave. The waking dead person had a string in their hand to pull the bell if buried alive.
It was considered such a joke that the term “Bats in the Belfry” became a phrase for people with odd ideas.
That part, I didn’t know.
I never thought of the actual definition of “Belfry”.
Just goes to show that a lot of gallows humor is ageless.
Maybe even Cleopatra’s family mortician told a wry joke or two about ‘Wandering Asps’.
“The only man I ever knew who could counteract this passion on the part of Democrats for voting, was Robert Roach, carpenter of the steamer Aleck Scott, ‘plying to and from St. Louis to New Orleans and back,’ as her advertisement sometimes read.
The Democrats generally came up as deck passengers from New Or leans, and the yellow fever used to snatch them right and left - eight or nine a day for the first six or eight hundred miles; consequently Roach would have a lot on hand to ‘plant’ every time the boat landed to wood - “plant” was Roach’s word. One day as Roach was superintending a burial the Captain came up and said:
‘God bless my soul, Roach, what do you mean by shoving a corpse into a hole in the hill-side in this barbarous way, face down and its feet sticking out?’
‘I always plant them foreign Democrats in that manner, sir, because, damn their souls, if you plant ‘em any other way they’ll dig out and vote the first time there’s an election - but look at that fellow, now - you put ‘em in head first and face down and the more they dig the deeper they’ll go into the hill.’
In my opinion, if we do not get Roach to superintend our cemeteries, enough Democrats will dig out at the next election to carry their entire ticket. It begins to look that way.”
The Works of Mark Twain; Early Tales & Sketches, Vol. 2 1864-1865, (Univ. of California Press, 1981), pp. 313-14.
I aint afraid of no ghosts ..........
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