Archaeologists have discovered a unique Roman-era cemetery in Orléans, France, where dozens of lead curse tablets were found in male burials, LiveScience reports.
The excavation took place beneath an 18th-century building, revealing more than 60 graves dating from the late 1st to early 3rd century AD. All the burials were aligned along a wall and shared unusual features: no women or children were present, the bodies were placed in painted wooden coffins, and cremation was not practiced.
The most striking discovery was 21 curse tablets — lead scrolls inscribed with texts known as defixiones. In antiquity, such tablets were used to invoke the gods with pleas or curses directed against enemies.
One tablet proved especially valuable: the inscription was written in the extinct Gaulish language. Placed in the grave of a man, it was dedicated to the war god Mars Rigisamus (“Mars the Kingly”) and listed the names of individuals who were cursed for acts of injustice.
According to linguist Pierre-Yves Lambert, the find is of great importance for the study of Celtic culture, as written texts in Gaulish are extremely rare following the Roman conquest.
