An archaeological team excavating a necropolis at the site of Sagalassos in southwest Turkey uncovered an unusual and very eerie tomb. The burial held the cremated remains of an adult male who lived between A.D. 100 and 150 and whose interment was given special treatment. Normally, after an individual was cremated, the remaining bones, ash, and debris were placed in an urn and deposited in another location. However, in this case, the pyre was immediately sealed with bricks and covered with a thick layer of lime. Additionally, a bronze coin and more than 40 nails had been scattered around the human remains. Researchers believe the nails were placed in the burial as charms to ward off evil forces and to affix the deceased’s spirit to the ground. The bricks and lime covering the grave may have been an additional precaution to ensure the dead could not rise and harm the living. “None of these practices has been observed in any other burials excavated at Sagalassos,” says archaeologist Johan Claeys of KU Leuven. “It can only be explained as a deliberate attempt to impact the fate of the deceased.”
