15th-Century Curse Tablet Uncovered in Germany

ROSTOCK, GERMANY—Live Science reports that an excavation led by Jörg Ansorge of the University of Greifswald has recovered a rolled-up piece of lead from a latrine in northern Germany. When they unrolled the metal, the researchers found a fifteenth-century inscription. The text reads “sathanas taleke belzebuk hinrik berith,” and is thought to be a curse summoning Beelzebub, or Satan, and the demonic spirit Berith, perhaps to break up a relationship between a woman named Taleke and a man named Hinrik. Most curse tablets have been dated from 800 B.C. to A.D. 600, making this curse tablet a special find, Ansorge explained. To read about 2,300-year-old curse tablets recovered from an ancient Athenian well, go to “The Cursing Well.”