CHAPTER TWELVE NAILS FOR THE DEAD: A POLYSEMIC ACCOUNT OF AN ANCIENT FUNERARY PRACTICE1 Silvia Alfayé Villa 1. Introduction: Nails in Funerary Contexts Italian scholars have recently re-opened an old debate about the function of nails discovered in Greek and Roman cremation and inhumation tombs.2 Although some are undoubtedly utilitarian, the widespread presence, in the Greek world as well as in the Roman Empire, of single nails in graves, especially cremation graves, suggests they were deliberately buried with the grave-goods. Ever since the nineteenth century scholars have generally interpreted isolated nails of this sort as apotropaic, as talismans to protect the dead person from the dangers of the Aterlife. he alternative view has been that the dead were to be symbolically conined to the grave in order to prevent them from becoming revenants. here has however as yet been no synthetic study of the main problems connected with the intentional deposit of nails in defunctive contexts in the Graeco-Roman world. he purpose of this paper is to ofer a summary survey of the archaeological material, mainly in the western part of the Roman Empire, followed by evaluation of the discussion it has evoked. 1 I would like to thank Francisco Marco and Richard Gordon for their suggestions and comments which have much improved this article. My research has been conducted as part of the project “Espacios de magia, superstición y poder en el Occidente del Imperio Romano”, inanced by DGICYT (HUM 241–29). Note that where it is necessary to distinguish types of graves, inc. = incineration; inh. = inhumation. I have retained the ancient place names in referring to cemeteries where that practice was followed in the excavation-report. 2 See the papers in Heinzelmann 2001; Maioli 2007, 108. 428 silvia alfayé villa 2. Nails, Coins and Grave-goods Some nails found inside graves were purely utilitarian: they are carpenter’s nails, used for joining timber, either of the coin or of the bier used to transport the corpse to the pyre.3 A wide variety of ancient cofins is attested; in most cases iron nails were used in their construction, but sometimes they were jointed and/or dowelled. Occasionally they were even carved in one piece from a tree-trunk.4 Where the wood itself is not preserved, the existence of a coin is inferred from the distribution-pattern of the nails around the corpse and/or from changes in the colouring of the earth which reveal the dimensions of the coin. Examples of this are known from the necropolis at Olynthus, and from the Roman cemeteries of London, Lankhills (Winchester) or SainteBarbe (Strasbourg).5 Another explanation for nails in funerary contexts is that they had been used in the manufacture of objects originally deposited as gravegoods but now decayed and disappeared. A case in point are the hobnails used in leather shoes or boots that have been found in graves in Lutetia Parisiorum, London or Lankhills.6 However, it is hard to discern a utilitarian purpose for single nails found in a tomb, nails that have never been used, or whose tip has been deliberately twisted—thus calling attention to their non-utilitarian signiicance—or that are “too large to have come from a coin”.7 Nevertheless, this last claim must be allowed to be impressionistic: as 3 Cf. for example Angelucci et al. 1990, 84f., igs. 33f.; Hachlili and Killebrew 1999, 60–90; Watson 2003, 16; 33f.; 60–63. 4 Cf. Salin 1952, 95f.; 125f., 369f., igs. 47f.; Clarke 1979, 332–41; Barber and Bowsher 2000, 93–95; Watson 2003, 62f.; Blaizot et al. 2004, 92–108, ig. 6. 5 Olynthus (VI–IVa): Robinson 1942, 159f. Roman cemeteries in London (Ip–Vp): Watson 2003, 16f.; 44f.; Barber and Bowsher 2000, 91–98, igs. 63–66, 71f.; 108–109; 112. Lankhills (IIIp–Vp): Clarke 1979, 332–41; 353–55. Sainte-Barbe (IVp–VIIp): Blaizot et al. 2004, 92–96, ig. 6. 6 Lutetia: Petit 1984, 349, ig. 223; Caerleon: Evans and Maynard 1997, 237–39; London: Barber and Bowsher 2000, 137f.; 354, ig. 99, Table 132; Lankhills: Clarke 1979, 178–181; 322–25; 370f.; 406–8. Since a pair of military boots contained around 300 hobnails, it is clear that in all these cases most of the nails must have been retrieved, perhaps for re-use; for other explanations, cf. Simmonds, Márquez-Grant and Loe 2008, 25–6, 115–6, 135. 7 Cf. Paris et al. 1926, 88 (from tombs at Baelo Claudia); Kurtz and Boardman 1971, 216 (on the 10–15cm nails from the necropolis at Olynthus); Castella 1987, 32 (the large nails in the graves of Port d’Avenches); Hachlili and Killebrew 1999, 169 (necropolis of Jericho); Maioli 2007, 108 (twisted nails from Italian necropolis). See a discussion on this topic in Chausserie-Lapree and Nin 1987, 80–1. nails for the dead 429 Clarke points out, the number of nails used in the construction of cofins varied widely from one or two to more than ity, and their size was very variable. hus, for example, some of the nails used in the cofins of the late-Roman cemetery of Lankhills are 15–20 cm long.8 he existence of these and other oddities, such as the presence of nails in cremation-tombs, and the discovery in some graves of imitation nails made of silver or glass—useless from a practical point of view—have led researchers to suggest other possible values of nails in defunctive contexts beyond the merely utilitarian.9 Nails found in cinerary urns might theoretically derive from the burning of the coin, the bier and/or the grave goods on the pyre, so that their presence in the urn along with the ashes of the deceased would be unintended and thus irrelevant for our purpose.10 his explanation is plausible in the case of small nails, which might have gone unnoticed by those who collected the ashes and deposited them in their inal resting-place; but it is less likely that a 10–15cm long nail would have gone undetected, particularly if we take into consideration the fact that sometimes the nail is actually taller than the funerary urn (Text-ig. 11).11 But the strongest argument in favour of deliberate inclusion is that, as Bruzza irst pointed out well over a century ago, the nail is linked both in cremations and inhumations to a recurrent 8 Clarke 1979, 337; 354; tables 35–37 on p. 332 indicate that most of the coin nails found at Lankhills measured 4–11 cm, while the longest were 22 cm long. Such dimensions are by no means exceptional: most of the nails used in the coins from the western cemetery of London are 4–10cm long, but some are up to 14cm long; cf. Barber and Bowsher 2000, 94; cf. also Martorelli 2000, 43 (large nails at Cornus). 9 Gaidoz (in Jullian et al. 1902, 300) noted the discovery of long silver nails in graves from Greece, Italy and France (without specifying the cemeteries in question), and considered them to be ‘magical’; also Martorelli 2000, 43, on glass nails in funerary contexts from Piamonte. 10 his is the explanation ofered by Almagro 1955, 100, and Vollmer and López 1995, 130–1, 137 n.17–20, for the numerous nails found in the cremations at Ampurias. Others have proposed similar arguments for the incineration burials they were dealing with: Uglietti 1985, 561f.; Evans and Maynard 1997, 190; 239 (many small wood-nails; prior cremation in coins in 68 of 121 burials); Barber and Bowsher 2000, 60f.; 104–106; Falzone, Olivanti and Pellegrino 2001, 133f.; Chapon et al. 2004, 133f. In other cases, as pointed out by Ratel 1977, 83, Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 29, and Simmonds, Márquez-Grant and Loe 2008, 115, the nails might have come from the wooden casket in which the cinerary urn was placed (Evans and Maynard 1997, 239 report numerous small tacks less than 25mm in length). 11 As pointed out by Black 1986, 222f.; also Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 98. See also several examples in Allain et al. 1992, 52f.; 128, tomb 74; Buchner and Ridgway 1993, pl. XCIII (grave 70), pl. XCV (grave 76), pl. CXI (grave 109); Ceci 2001, 89, igs. 4–5; Vegas 1988, taf. 34 and 79a (grave 66), and taf. 58 and 61 (grave 96). 430 silvia alfayé villa Fig. 11. Funerary goods: pottery vessel, two nails, two coins and a lamp. Grave 110, Pithekoussai (Roman cemetery). Drawing by J. Rodríguez Corral, adapted from Buchner and Ridgway 1993, pl. CXI. set of grave-goods.12 We thus ind a typical set of grave goods in a whole range of cemeteries, mostly dating II–IIIp, consisting of nail(s), a lamp, a small ceramic vessel and/or an unguent-jar and, quite oten, a coin (Text-igs. 11–12). he idea that funerary-goods were consciously selected, with variations due to fashion and/or local tradition, is supported by a number of studies, mainly based on early-imperial Italian and Gallo-Roman cemeteries (Table 2, p. 433).13 We also ind regularities in the positioning of the objects: in the majority of documented cremation-graves, for example, either the lamp and the nail are deposited inside the cinerary urn, or the nail is deliberately placed inside the olletta or the lamp. In the case of inhumation-graves, the ceramic vessel containing the nail and the lamp is usually found at the foot of the skeleton, as at Pithekoussai or Picentia (Table 2). here are however some interesting variations. he skeleton in inhumationtomb Bonjoan 7 at Ampurias, for example, dating from IV–IIIª, was found holding an unguent-jar and an iron nail in its let hand. An almost exact parallel is known from inhumation grave Martí 75, also at Ampurias, and from grave 5 of the Greek necropolis at Camarina, dating from mid-IVª, where the skeleton held a coin and a nail likewise in the let hand.14 his last ind also tends to corroborate Jorio’s Bruzza 1874, li–iii. I have myself checked the inventories of grave-goods from several cemeteries, such as those at Pithekoussai and Ampurias. Other examples are: Ghirardini 1888, 320; Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 98; Lagi de Caro 1995, 347f.; Quilici and Quilici 1998, 210; Ceci 2001, 89f.; 94; Falzone, Olivanti and Pellegrino 2001, 131 n. 10. 14 Inh. Bonjoan 7: Almagro 1953, 146; 155 ig. 121; Martí 75: Almagro 1953, 80 pl. 52: a 7.5cm long iron nail and an unguent-jar held in the let hand of an infant; Camarina: Orsi 1899, 256f. 12 13 nails for the dead 431 Fig. 12. he grave-goods from incineration tomb 7, Via Nomentana, Rome: pottery vessel, two nails, coin and lamp (Ip). Drawing by J. Rodríguez Corral, adapted from Ceci 2001, 92, ig. 5. thesis, formulated as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, that coins and nails oten co-occur in such contexts (Text-igs. 11–12). Recent studies suggest that this association is not accidental but part of an entire ritual complex (Table 2).15 15 Cf. Jorio 1824, 128f; Spano 1859, 123. Coin and nail are paired in a funerary context at Pezzino (tomb 551); Pontecagnano (graves 6244, 6268, 6288, 6319, 6320, 6419, 6501, 6648); Cornus (graves 82, 85); Pithekoussai (graves 2, 14, 15, 29, 49, 60, 432 silvia alfayé villa Taking all these data into account, it can hardly be doubted that there are indeed many cases in which the presence of one or more nails cannot be explained away in utilitarian terms. he obvious alternative is that such deposits are evidence of a ritual practice linked to a belief in the symbolic and social signiicance of nails.16 Archaeologists have ofered two hypotheses, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive, though they are oten treated as such: the nails were either apotropaic amulets, intended to protect the deceased from evil in the Aterlife, or they were protective/defensive, to prevent the dead from returning to disturb or harm the living. Each can be supported by anthropological parallels from all over the world (e.g. Frazer 1933–36/2003) and by the magical value attributed to nails in antiquity. In this paper, I conine myself to the latter. 3. Usus clavorum in arte magica valde lorebat17 Before discussing the two hypotheses in greater detail, I should make some preliminary remarks so as to clear the ground. Nails are found in a number of magical contexts in antiquity. One reason for this is that their shape and function make them an ideal basis for metonymic and metaphorical evocation: deictic magical action complements the performativity of magical utterance. Nails are ‘good to think’. Moreover, the mere act of driving nails into a material surface can be evoked in many diferent ways. Literary sources attest to the fact that they were considered a means of defence against malign powers and la maledetta.18 Diseases could be ‘nailed’ and so deictically neutralised; examples are ceremony of the clavus annalis, which was originally linked to public calamity (Livy 7.3.3–8); and a cure for epilepsy recorded by 81, 125); Cabasse (tomb 6, 13, 20); Blicquy (tomb 21, 75, 79, 242, 306); Baelo Claudia (grave 820); Colonia Patricia Corduba (grave 5); Ampurias (inc. Las Corts 24; inc. Ballesta 15, 17, 18; inh. Ballesta 2, 8; inc. Rubert 24, 29; inc. Torres 5, 13–14, 18, 53, 64, 68; inc. Patel 5; inc. Sabadí 5; inc. Bonjoan XIV; inh. Bonjoan III); Fralana (tombs 21, 22); Tavant (tomb 6); Marcillat-La Faye; Lezoux III (grave 87); Sucidava; Gratte Dos (tomb 4); Chantambre; Mulva (graves 31, 63); Isola Sacra (tombs 22, 32) and in several necropoleis on the outskirts of Rome. 16 As Morris 1992, 108, points out “grave goods are part of the total burial assemblage; taken away from it, they mean nothing. What we ind is determined by the actors in ancient rituals, who put objects into graves because it seemed like a good idea at the time”. 17 Heim 1892, 541. 18 E.g. Pliny, HN 10.152; 28.48; Columella, De re rustica 8.5.12. Table 2. Published cemeteries with defunctive nails. Necropolis Pezzino, Agrigento Pithekoussai, Ischia Grave 551 Grave-Goods. Va Vª–IIp Bibliographical references De Miro 1989, 59–61, pl. XLVIII; Cutroni 1995, 193, n. 7 Buchner and Ridgway 1993, 37, 38, 44–5, 47–8, 60–1, 81–2, 85–7, 90, 94, 123–6 Vª–IIIp (mainly I–IIp) Almagro 1953 and 1955; Vollmer and López 1995, 130–1, 137 n. 17–20. IVa IIIa–IIp Orsi 1899, 256 Ceci 2001, 89, 92, igs. 4–5. nails for the dead Nail, coin, lekythoi, amphorae, strigil, etc. 1, 2, 14, 18, 34, 35, 60, 69, 70, 76, 81, 104, Lamp, unguentary, nail 105, 109 and coin usually inside olletta, placed at the feet of the skeleton Emporion, Inhumation Martí 100; Inc. Martí 9; Inh. Nail(s), coin, Ampurias, Bonjoan 7, 12, 36, 47; Inc. Las Corts 7, unguentarium, thin-walled Gerona 17, 20, 24, 40, 46, 68, 78, 87, 97, 102, vessel etc. 113–114, 119, 121, 123, 125, 131, 142, 153. Inc. Ballesta 3, 4, 7, 15, 17–18, 22, 23, 32, 38, 46, 48, 54; Inh. Ballesta 2, 8; Inc. Rubert 1, 4, 13, 15–16, 22, 24–25, 27, 29–30, 39–40; Inh. Rubert 3; Inc. Torres 5, 8, 11,13–15, 18, 20, 23, 27–28, 30–31, 39, 42, 44, 50–51, 53, 60–61, 63, 64, 67–68; Inc. Nofre 8; Inc. Patel 4–7, 9, 11–12, 18, 29, 22; Inc. Sabadí 5–6, 8–9, 20; Inc. Aniteatro 1, 2; Inc. Bonjoan III, VI–VIII, X, XII–XIV, XVII–XVIII, XXI; Inh. Bonjoan III; Inc. Granada II,VI; Inc. muralla NW 1, 2, 4–5, 9, 13. Camarina, Sicily 5 1 nail, 2 coins Via Nomentana 7 Lamp+nail in thin-walled 1119, Rome olletta, with nail+coin at bottom Date 433 434 Table 2 (cont.) Necropolis Grave No details Calle del Quart, Valencia Palestine No details Tipasa, Algeria No details Via Flaminia, Rimini 56 (inc.) No details Via Nomentana 1; 7 km. 10.5, Rome Via Laurentina, 48, 49 Ostia D’Alleans, Baugy No details La Côte d’Orgeval, Sommesous, Marne Via Camerini, Rome Via G. Antamoro, Rome Corinth Infant inhumation St. 41, 302 7 Date Bibliographical references Lamp, vessel, Late Repub. Bruzza 1874, LI–LIII unguentarium, nails inside cremation urns “Nails as magical graveLate Repub. García Prósper and Guerin 2002, goods” 210–1 Nail with magical function Hellenistic Hachlili and Killebrew 1999, 139–140, Period 169; Hachlili 2005, 494, 511–6. Baradez 1959, 217–8 Large bronze/iron nails in Ia–IIp graves, used as phylacteries 1 twisted bronze nail Ip Ortalli 2001, 236–7, ig. 21; Maioli placed under the ashes, at 2007, 108, 215, ig. 117. the bottom of the grave; 1 iron nail Nail, and coin; coin and Ip Ceci 2001, 92 nail inside vessel Large nail inside cinerary Ip Squarciapiano 1958, 104, 107, n. 73. urn Iron nails inside graves Ip Fontvielle 1987, 130. without link to wooden structures 1 nail, ceramic fragments Ip Guillier 1992, 19, 27, ig. 7. I–IIp Ceci 2001, 94 1, 2 1 nail, 2 coins, mirror, glass . . . Nail and coin I–IIp Ceci 2001, 95 No details Nail I–IIp Hoskins 2005, 277, n. 46. silvia alfayé villa Vercelli Grave-Goods Table 2 (cont.) Necropolis Grave Date Bibliographical references I–II Allain 1972, 26, igs. 3–4 ; Allain et al. 1992, 128–9 I–IIp Castella 1987, 32, 62, 113, nº 379. I–IIp Riquier and Salé 2006, 27–9, 47–52, 71–2; igs. 23–4, 52–60. I–IIp Laet et al. 1972, 30, 83–9, 92, 96–7, 99–100, 104–5, 115, 118–124, 126–7, 131–4 p nails for the dead Bizarre disposition of the nails with “une function rituelle de nature magique”, diverse objects . . . Port d’Avenches 10 1 nail (15cm.) from a ship, ring, ceramic fragments, glass Tavant, Indre-et- Infant inhumation 6, 15, 16 Nails intentionally placed Loire inside the sarcophagi at the legs, feet or head of the skeletons, small nails possibly linked to wooden objects, coin, ceramic and glass vessels, jewels, miniaturized dagger, objects made of bone . . . Blicquy, Leuze- 19, 21, 23B, 26, 33, 43, 48, 50, 75, 79, 106, 1–4 large nails inside the en-Hainaut 121,134, 142, 163, 167, 170,242, 243, 268, cinerary urn (mixed up 278, 282, 293, 295, 303, 306, 315, 321, with the human bones), or 338/340/341, 344, 381, 384, 392, 404, with a bizarre disposition 405 of the grave-goods Argentomagus, Saint-Marcel Only masculine graves; for example 54, 69, 95, 105, 130 etc. Grave-Goods 435 Necropolis Lezoux III, Auvergne 436 Table 2 (cont.) Grave Cremation 98, 102, 121, 141; 12; 87 Grave-Goods Bibliographical references I–II Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 98 I–IIp Chevillot and Moissat 1980, 207–14, 221–2, 227–9, 233–4, igs. 2, 4, 7–9, 16.3–4. I–IIp Raddatz 1973, 37–8, 52–6, 59–66, abb. 12–15, 19–20, 22–3, taf. 8–9, 14–20; Vegas 1988, 57, 76–80, 85–6, 92–3, taf. 13, 17, 23, 32–4, 57–8, 79, 81. I–IIp Nierhaus 1959, 48–9, 70–1, 73, 75–6, 81–2, taf. 6.B, F; 9.C-D, F; 11, abb. 4; 12, abb. 4 , 6. I–IIIp Loridant 1992, 98. I–IIIp Bérard 1961, 110–1, 115,123, 133–5. silvia alfayé villa 1 nail mixed up with human bones inside cinerary urn; odd distribution of nails; 3 nails, cinerary urn, 2 vessels, 1 coin Les Grandes Inc. 2 hollow iron nails without Terres, Neuvic the tips, 5 pottery vessels (one pierced by a nail), 2 iron rings, stone slab Mulva, Munigua, Inc. 9, 10, 13, 15; Southern Cemetery 24, Nails placed inside 31, 41, 63, 66, 96 cremation graves with a Seville magical intention, jewels, pottery vessels, lamp, unguentarium, coin, glass vessels . . . Bad Cannstatt, 8, 10, 19, 34, 36, 38, 41, 64, 67, 69, 71 1 or 2 nails placed inside Stuttgart “poor graves” with a magical intention, lamp, pottery vessels, . . . Fache des Près No details (10 cremations) + 2 uncertain Only one nail in each Aulnoys, Bavay graves (291, 396) + inhumation 546 grave, grave-goods (no detailed). La Calade, 3, 6, 13, 19, 20, 40 Nail tips, coin, lamp, Cabasse, Var unguentarium; bizarre layout of nails Date p Table 2 (cont.) Necropolis Grave 820; 811; infant inhumations (grave-numbers not given) Colonia Patricia Corduba, Cordoba Northern Gallia (Lutecia, BunoBonnevaux, Armorica . . .) 5 No details Fralana, Ailia XX, XXII Via U.Fracchia, Rome 40; 45; 108 Isola Sacra, Ostia 22, 32 (saggio 16) Linton, Cambs. 5 Date 3 nails, coin, mirror, ring, I–III etc.; 2 vessels, jewels, 2 lamps and a nail placed at the feet of the skeleton; nails placed at the feet and head of the corpse, jewels, lamps, etc. Nails and coins I–IIIp p Paris et al., 1926, 74–5; 83, 89; 87 Moreno 2006, 250. I–IVp Doorselaer 1967, 122; Chevillot and Moissat 1980, 227–9; Bourgeois 1984, 294; Petit 1984, 248; Galliou and Jones 1991, 113–4. IIp IIp Falzone, Olivani and Pellegrino 2001, 131–3, 135–6 Ceci 2001, 89, 94 IIp Angelucci et al. 1990, 75 IIp Lethbridge 1935–1936, 70–71 437 Nail inside or around graves (“with magical intention”); large iron nails at the feet, jaw or chest of the skeletons Coin and nail inside thinwalls-vessel Nail, coin, lamp, thinwalled olletta; 2 nails, coin; 3 nails, coin Coin, unguentarium and nail at the feet and nail at the head of the skeleton; olletta with nail and coin inside 1 nail, vessels, jewellery, glass bottle Bibliographical references nails for the dead Baelo Claudia, Bolonia, Cadiz Grave-Goods 438 Table 2 (cont.) Necropolis Gratte Dos, Meuilley Grave Cremation 4; 37 Grave-Goods Bibliographical references II Ratel 1977, 77–8, 95, pl. IX IIp Autexier 1976, 75–81. II–IIIp Autexier et al. 1978, 64. II–IIIp Lagi de Caro 1995, 347–348 IIIp Delattre and Magnan 1998, 147 III–IVp González 2001, 360. silvia alfayé villa Nail and coin inside urn; 2 “clous votifs”, 10 nails from a bier, 2 vessels, coin Marcillat-La Faye, Inc. 44 nails (most of them Mars, Creuse twisted) of a “caractère rituel”, coin, granite cinerary urn, ceramic vessels, lamps, glass fragments Louroux, Creuse A, D, J, pit F Nails with bizarre (ritual?) location Picentia, 14 graves; detailed 6244, 6266, 6268, Twisted/broken nails and Pontecagnano 6278, 6288, 6319, 6320, 6419, 6448, 6501 a coin inside a thin-walled vessel Les Sablons, Inhumations, no details Large iron nails at the Fresnes-surhead, stomach or knees of Marne the skeletons El Albir, Valencia 6 2 large nails thrust into the earth under the bottom of the tomb Date p nails for the dead 439 Table 3. Infant tombs with defunctive nails. Necropolis Grave Grave-goods Pithekoussai, Ischia 1, 2, 15 (twisted olletta, lamp, hook, not a unguentarium, nail), 18, 34, 81 coins, nail (most of them inside the lamp or vessel placed at the feet of the skeleton) Emporion, Inhumation Unguentarium held Gerona Martí 75; 100; in infant’s l. hand + 134 nail; idem; 14 fragments of nails, cardium shell, 2 lekythoi (one held in infant’s l. hand), small pottery cup, 2 fragments of cuttleish-bone Via Nomentana km 1; 7 Nail and coin; 10.5, Rome nail and coin inside a pottery vessel La Côte d’Orgeval, Inhumation St. 1 nail without Sommesous, Marne 41, 302 link to wooden structure, ceramic fragments Argentomagus, Cremation Bizarre layout of Saint-Marcel-Indre 55,74, 78, 121; nails, cinerary Inhumation 70, urn, fragments of 77, 88, 122, 144 pottery . . . Tavant, Indre-et-Loire Inhumation 6; 15; 16 Date Bibliography V -Roman Buchner and Ridgway 1993, 37, 38, 46, 47–48, 60, 94 V–IIIa Almagro 1953, 80 (ig. 52); 94 (ig. 71); 111–2 (ig. 111). Ip Ceci 2001, 92 Ip Guillier 1992, 19, 27, ig. 7. I–IIp Allain et al. 1992, 43, 52–3, 55, 76, 86, 92–4, 97, 128; Laubenheimer 2004, 302 Riquier and Salé 2006, 27–9, 47–52, 72, 99, 103; igs. 23–4, 52–60. a 2 nails placed at I–IIp legs of skeleton, 4 small nails at bottom of the sarcophagi (possibly linked to a wooden bier/box), coin, ceramic vessels, miniaturized dagger; 1 fragment of nail placed at feet of skeleton, sarcophagi, ceramic and glass vessels, jewels, objects made 440 silvia alfayé villa Table 3 (cont.) Necropolis Grave Linton, 5 Cambridgeshire La Calade, Cabasse, 40 Var Chantambre, l’Essonne Baelo Claudia, Bolonia No details No details Sucidava, Dacia No details Poggio Gramignano, Lugnano in Teverina IB 14 (possible burial) Grave-goods of bone; 1 nail placed at head of skeleton, 1 nail placed outside sarcophagi, 4 small nails possibly related to a wooden object, ceramic & glass vessels, pearls, animal bones Nail, jewels, vessels, glass bottle Groups of four nails placed around three olpai, plus lamp and the skull of infant; some of the nails bent or deliberately thrust into earth; ceramic vessels pierced by nails coin, nail, carved stone, . . . Nails placed at head and feet of skeleton, jewels Hecatiform vessel, 2 coins, pottery decorated with Dionysiac igure, 1 nail at feet of skeleton Iron nail, animal bones, iron nail placed above outer amphorae Date IIp II–IIIp II–IIIp IIIp Bibliography Lethbridge 1935–1936, 70–1 Bérard 1963, 297–306 Laubenheimer 2004, 303 Paris et al. 1926, 87 IVp Hampartumian 1978, 472–7, pl. XCI Vp Soren and Soren 1999, 499, 511 nails for the dead 441 Pliny: clavum ferreum deigere in quo loco primum caput ixerit corruens morbo comitiali absolutorium eius mali dicitur, “It is said that driving an iron nail into the spot where the epileptic patient’s head irst touches the ground [during a seizure] is a cure for that disease”.19 In these cases, the intention is to protect the community or client/patient; the aggression implied by the act of hammering is directed against harmful spirits or disease. On the other hand, as everyone knows, nails were used in an analogous fashion in malign magical curses for a quite diferent purpose, being driven through already-inscribed and rolled or folded tabellae deixionum. Here the implicit aggression is directed against the human target; the aim is to ‘ix’ a malign-magical curse. Piercing poppets with pins was another way of achieving the same efect.20 To the expressive values of shape and action we may add material composition (mainly iron but also bronze).21 In the ancient world special properties, both medicinal (e.g. Pliny, HN 34.151) and amuletic, were attributed to both these metals.22 Moreover the eicacy of the metal could be enhanced by taking the metal’s provenance into account: iron linked with the dead, especially the blood of the criminal dead, was believed to possess special potency, which made objects made of it, e.g. rings, particularly valuable to practitioners of (malign) magic like Pamphile (Apuleius, Met. 3.17: carnosi clavi pendentium) or the super-witch Erictho (Lucan, Bell.civ. 6.544–46).23 hat the practice of extracting nails from tombs for such purposes was widespread in the Roman world is suggested by a funerary curse from near the Porta Latina in Rome intended to deter possible thieves: Quiqumque hinc 19 HN 28.63. On the ceremony of the clavus annalis see Foresti 1979; Dungworth 1998, 153. 20 On the use of nails in deixiones and poppets, cf. Preisendanz 1972; Faraone 1991; 1992, 74–93; Gager, CT 14–18; Graf 1997, 134–37; Dungworth 1998, 153–57; Ogden 1999, 14, 73–79; and 2002, 245–60. 21 I here disregard the examples made of silver and glass. 22 See Marshall 1904, 333; Massoneau 1934, 115f.; Tupet 1976, 35–44; Veltri 1998, 74f.; 79–81; Ogden 2001, 180. Some modern examples in Merriield 1987, 162–175. 23 E.g. Pliny, HN 28.46 (fragment of nail against fever); Lucian, Philops. 17 and 24 (amuletic ring); Alexander of Tralles, herap. 1.1; there are also several Talmudic texts in the same sense. Cf. Jobbé-Duval 1924/2000, 81; 192; Tupet 1976, 37–42; 84–87 and 1986, 2657–68; Veltri 1998, 69–70; Ogden 1999, 14; 19f. and 2002, 121–24; 141f.; 166f.; Gordon 1999, 204–210; Hope 2000, 120–22; Dickie 2003, 175–192; Bohak 2008, 121f. Some anthropological examples of the magical use of this type of nail in Marshall 1904, 334, n. 12; Bellucci 1919; and Gazin-Schwartz 2001, 270f. 442 silvia alfayé villa clavos exemerit [sic] in oculos sibi igat, “May anyone who extracts nails (from this coin) run himself through the eyes (in so doing)”.24 I should also mention in this prefatory discussion a group of nails clearly used for magical purposes but connected neither with deixiones nor—I am inclined to think, against a certain consensus—with the defunctive nails. hese are the so-called chiodi magici, which are 10–20cm long, made of bronze or iron, decorated with geometrical patterns, sigla and/or charakteres, and show no signs of wear. A competent recent catalogue lists eighteen such nails, though at least one or two more have been published.25 With some exceptions, they date from III–IVp. Although the charakteres and other sigla make clear that these objects are linked to magical practices, the lack of provenance (most have come to light via the antiquities trade) means that their interpretation is problematic. he decisive fact for me is that, unlike the material I have presented in §2, not one of these nineteen chiodi magici demonstrably derives from a funerary context. We may in fact doubt whether such nails form a coherent functional group. he one that forms part of the so-called magician’s kit (IIIp) found in the 1890s the lower city of Pergamon and now in the Antikensammlung, Berlin is generally thought to have been used in divination, although its precise mode d’emploi is controversial.26 his may well have been the function of several others too, such as the one found in the Rath/Apollo sanctuary of S. Antonio, in Caere.27 JobbéDuval however suggested many years ago that the nails used to cure epilepsy (cf. the passage of Pliny cited n. 19 above) may have been of this type.28 For his part, Toutain thought that some related Gaulish examples may have been placed in sanctuaries as votive objects.29 he 24 CIL VI 7191 = ILS 8188. Cf. Brelich 1937, 12f.; Storoni 1973, 126f. no. LXII; Maioli 2007, 108. Admittedly the aim of such thet may have been simply utilitarian (cf. n. 6 above), like stripping churches of their lead and copper nowadays. 25 Bevilacqua 2001. Add to her total a bronze nail decorated with inlaid gold from Tongres (Belgium); see Cumont 1914, 101f., pl. 67. he total is therefore 19+. 26 First published by Wünsch 1905; see the recent discussion between Mastrocinque 2002, 177–79 and Gordon 2002, 196f. 27 Colonna 2001, 151f. 28 Jobbé-Duval 1924/2000, 146. 29 Toutain 1920, 371 n. 2. Although he does not specify where these nails were found, he may have been referring to the red-painted nails found in the fanum of Harleur and in the thermal sanctuary of Fontaines-Salées, which were identiied by their discoverers as clous votifs; cf. Vesly 1909, 144; Louis 1938, 299, ig. 37; and Lacroix 1956, 258–60, ig. 90, who dates the Fointaines-Salées nails to the 4th century CE. Bevilacqua is ready to entertain the hypothesis (2001, 14). nails for the dead 443 decorated bronze chiodi found in the sanctuary of the Venetic healinggoddess Reitia at Este-Baratela, SW of Padua, may also be votives.30 Rubensohn, followed recently by Bevilacqua, interpreted a lead nail from Paros with the Greek inscription ΠΥΡ as a magical protection against ire; it was perhaps knocked into the wall of the sanctuary of Asclepius.31 he most plausible inference from the incised symbols is that nails of this type were mainly used as amulets. he smaller examples may have been worn around the neck or elsewhere on the person as protection against the evil eye or malign-magical attack. he dominant interpretation of the larger ones since the 19th century is that they were placed in tombs along with other grave goods as phylacteries.32 In other words, they are deemed to be functionally identical with the very much larger number of uninscribed nails certainly found in such circumstances. As I have pointed out, this cannot be conirmed in any instance, and in some cases is certainly wrong. It is of course thinkable that they are simply expensive equivalents of uninscribed defunctive nails, but there as yet is no proof (and even if one were ever actually to be found in a grave, its interpretation would only be an inference, not a ‘fact’) and in my view it would be best to reserve judgement on the matter. 4. he Magical-ritual Use of Nails in Cemeteries Disregarding the chiodi magici as perhaps a special case, the overwhelmingly dominant interpretation of the defunctive nails surveyed 30 hese nails are between 14 and 26cm long, and bear inscriptions (individual letters and geometrical shapes). hey are dated V–IVª. heir interpretation, like that of the inscribed metal plaques from the same site, is controversial: Ghirardini thought they were specially-made votives never intended to be used (1888, 20–37; 317–323); Whatmough 1922 saw them as votive hairpins dedicated by women before marriage; Pellegrini and Prosdocimi believe that they are non-functional Schreibgrifel linked to a sanctuary where writing was a votive custom and had a predominantly magical-ritual use (1967, 140–168; cf. Pascucci 1990, 28; 161, ig. 63; Eibner 2007, 83, taf. 5/5–7). On Reitia see briely Pascal 1964, 112f. 31 Rubensohn 1902, 229; Marshall 1904, 334 n. 11; Bevilacqua 2001, 143. 32 Amulets: e.g. Elworthy 1895/1970, 328–330; Massoneau 1934, 113f.; Bevilacqua 2002, 132–134. In the late nineteenth century and irst half of the twentieth century it was more or less taken for granted that such nails were talismans from tombs: Saglio 1892, 1241f.; Cagnat and Chapot 1920, 195f; Leclerq 1907, 1791. Wernet 1970, 12 claims that these items formed part of the ensemble of grave goods, although he does not actually specify a necropolis, nor could he have done so. 444 silvia alfayé villa in §2 has been that they were apotropaic amulets whose purpose was to protect the deceased from threats in the Aterlife (§4.1). I do not dispute this, but wish simply to argue that nails in a funerary context may also have had other symbolic meanings which ought not to be disregarded (§4.2–3). his justiies the word ‘polysemic’ in my title. 4.1. Nails as Apotropaic Amulets he apotropaic use of nails has been recorded sporadically for the Greek world, including Athens, Olynthus and Sicily.33 Most recorded cases are however Roman, dating mainly to the period Iª–IIp. As I have pointed out, most scholars have identiied such nails as rituallydeposited apotropaic talismans.34 In the case of the nails found in or by Jewish tombs of the Second Temple Period in Palestine, Hachili and Killebrew have argued that they are evidence of a custom taken over from Greek usage. his cannot be shown directly, but they cite some (much) later Rabbinical texts that speak of placing iron objects between or inside tombs to protect them against harmful spirits.35 As for the occasional inds of nails in late-antique tombs, they were once believed, under the inluence of the hagiographic and apologetic tradition, to be instruments of martyrdom, but are now generally understood, along with bells, animal-teeth, coins and semi-precious stones, as apotropaic amulets.36 A variant of this apotropaic hypothesis is that the nails may have been understood as protecting the deceased from actual profanation of the grave by metal-robbers or by magical practioners.37 Quite how the nails are supposed to be efective in this context is, however, not clear 33 Elworthy 1895/1970, 328f.; Orsi 1899, 256 n. 2; Kurtz and Boardman 1971, 216; Cutroni 1995, 193 n. 7. 34 Bruzza 1874, 51; Saglio 1892, 1244; Cagnat and Chapot 1920, 195; Baradez 1959, 217–8; Wernet 1970, 12–14; Raddatz 1973, 38; Nierhaus 1959, 48–9; Uglietti 1985, 562 n. 7; García Prósper and Guérin 2002, 210f.; Hoskins 2005, 277, n. 46; Moreno 2006, 250. 35 Hachlili and Killebrew 1999, 139f., 169; Hachlili 2005, 494, 511–516. On the Talmudic texts, see Veltri 1998, 80f. Trachtenberg mentions inter alia the Jewish custom of placing metal over the corpse so as to protect it from harm by spirits (1939/1961, 174–180). 36 Martyrdom: Boldetti 1720, 319–326; Liverani 1872, 80, 134, 136–137, 139; Martigny 1877, 533; Leclercq 1948, 1389; 1948, 2037. Amulets: Leclercq 1948, 2036–7; Testini 1980, 149; Giuntella 1990, 221; D’Angela 1995, 322f.; Nuzzo 2000, 253. 37 Ghirardini 1888, 319; LeGlay 1987, 248; Bevilacqua 2001, 133; Ceci 2001, 90; Maioli 2007, 108, 215. nails for the dead 445 to me: the ordinary understanding, that the nails are deployed only against malign spirits or ghosts, is surely preferable. Can a nail really be understood as a form of mute curse? 4.2. Nails for Keeping the Dead in Place Four types of dead were commonly thought in the ancient world to be dangerously ‘restless’, i.e. tended to haunt the place where they had died: those who had died prematurely (Gk. aōroi), those who had died violently (Gk. biaiothanatoi), those who had not received proper funeral rituals (Gk. ataphoi, Lat. insepulti), and those who had died before they were able to marry for the irst time (Gk. agamoi, Lat. innupti).38 Given that fear of revenants or morts malfaisants is wellattested in antiquity, and that iron nails were believed to be able to ‘ix’ dangerous supernatural forces, some scholars have suggested that this type of magic may also have served to protect the living against the dead.39 here is one ancient source, albeit a burlesque, that repeatedly refers to the use of iron bonds, magicum ferrum . . . vincula ferrea (§2; cf. 16), to ix a ghost. he topic of one of the pseudo-Quintilianic declamations (IVp) is the attempt by a woman to sue her husband for having hired a magician to ‘ix’ the ghost of her son who enjoyed repeated visits to her ater his cremation, embracing her and remaining by her all night long.40 he idea seems to have originated in taking the wish sit tibi terra gravis literally (e.g. §7) and exploring the resulting possibilities in as absurd a manner as possible; the information about the alleged rituals is of course vague in the extreme (the rhetor was simply recycling literary tropes). However the use of iron bonds/ chains in such rituals is taken as common knowledge, in addition to 38 Cf. Cumont 1922, 128–147, 64–69; Johnston 1999, 127–199; Ogden 2002, 146–178; Alfayé 2009; cf. in general Jobbé-Duval 1924/2000; Stramaglia 1999; Felton 2000. 39 E.g. Cumont 1914, 101f.; Annequin 1973, 21; Black 1986, 223; Delattre and Magnan 1988, 147; Dungworth 1998, 153, 156; Ortelli 2001, 236f.; Riquier and Salé 2006, 72. 40 Declam. maior 10, pp. 199–219 Håkanson, partly tr. in Ogden 2002 no. 125; cf. Ellis 1911; Wagenvoort 1927; Stramaglia 1999, 293–299, 308–323; Ogden 2001, 178–180; Schneider and Urlacher 2004; Alfayé 2009. As is well-known, this is the sole example of such a theme in this collection. he documentary quality of these declamations is of course problematic; I take it that the rhetor is alluding to ‘current belief’, or ‘formerly current belief’, amalgamating ritual practices from a number of diferent sources for efect. 446 silvia alfayé villa rituals performed at the tomb and/or over the corpse (e.g. §2, 7f., 15, 18). Like nails, chains or stanchions are physical objects that can be evoked in a number of diferent ways. It is familiar that statues of deities and heroes might be bound with chains as a punishment or to prevent them from moving; Pausanias for example describes how the inhabitants of Orchomenus, following the directions of the Delphic oracle, settled the malign ghost of Actaeon by giving proper burial to his remains and erecting a bronze statue to him and ixing it to a rock with iron.41 Pseudo-Quintilian also mentions that the magician placed stones on the youth’s corpse (§8: ferro . . . ac lapidibus artare, cf. 15), a ritual to prevent the dead from rising that happens to be documented archaeologically in some of the Roman cemeteries studied in this paper.42 he magical practice of throwing spears—certainly not swords—over the tomb or the corpse so as to ix “the emerging ghost or render it powerless” (Cary and Nock 1927, 27)—also has an archaeological correlate.43 he pseudo-Quintilianic text purports to describe a complex ritual to ix an already active ghost. From there it is no great step to thinking that nails may have been pre-emptively deposited in tombs to prevent the dead from returning to disturb the living. A number of archaeologists have done just this, for example Doorselaer (Roman-period tombs in northern Gaul); Petit (long iron nails placed on the lids of coins at Lutetia); Giuntella (nails deliberately placed beside late-antique graves on Sardinia); Hachlili and Killebrew (likewise, Second Temple period Jewish tombs in Palestine); and Remesal (bronze nails beside tombs at Baelo Claudia).44 In the early 1960s, Bérard interpreted the tips of 41 Paus. 9.38.5, cf. Faraone 1991, 168–179, 187, 197 n. 111; 1992, 83, 136–140; Johnston 1999, 59–62, 157f.; 2005, 303; Icard-Gianoglio 2004. 42 Cf. Alfayé 2009. Ampurias: Almagro 1955, 22, 90 (inh. Ballesta 6); Lutetia: Petit 1984, 348; Bourgeois 1984, 294; Pithekoussai: Buchner and Ridgway 1993, 123, tomb 104; Baelo Claudia: Paris et al. 1926, 92f. with pl. 57; Fresnes-sur-Marne: Delattre and Magnan 1998, 147; London, Western Cemetery: Barber and Bowsher 2000, 323f. pl. 114; Poggio Gramignano: Soren and Soren 1999, 508, 518, 527, pl. 251, child’s tomb IB 36. 43 E.g. Stead 1987, 234–237 (Garton Station, North Yorkshire); Alfayé 2009. Ogden 2002, 165 claims that [Quint.] also refers to “swords being driven down into the grave, no doubt to pin the ghost down into it (compare the pinning of voodoo dolls and curse tablets)” but I cannot locate the passage, nor does he provide a section number. 44 Doorselaer 1967, 122 (“barrières interposées entre l’âme malfaisante et les vivants”; the argument was picked up for Armorica by Galliou and Jones 1991, 113f.); Petit 1984, 348; Giuntella 1990, 221 n. 10; Hachili and Killebrew 1999, 169; Hachlili nails for the dead 447 nails (deliberately nipped of the shat) found scattered inside some Gallo-Roman tombs at ‘La Calade’, Cabasse (dép. Var, I-IIIp) as “une véritable ceinture prophylactique”.45 He reads one case in particular, the infant-burial in tomb 40, where clusters of four nails were found enclosing three olpai (jugs), a lamp and the child’s skull, as an efort magically to ix an aōros to the grave. Some of these nails were bent or had been deliberately thrust into the earth, a feature paralleled in other Roman cemeteries, such as those of Picentia, Via Flaminia, Baelo Claudia, Ampurias or ‘El Albir’, Valencia.46 At all these sites, the practice seems to be employed systematically, i.e. non-casually, which increases the likelihood that this was a deliberate ritual practice intended to ix the dead. It is apparent from the archaeological record that such ‘ixing’ rituals were generally performed at the same time as the corpse (or ashes) was deposited in the tomb. he pseudo-Quintilianic declamation suggests however that there was, or might be, a scale of ritual violence that could be exerted upon the dead. he most extreme form of such violence—no doubt only in the case of very recalcitrant ghosts—was to pierce the skull and/or other parts of the body with nails. his practice is documented archaeologically for the ancient world: although nails found within skeletal remains may occasionally be otherwise explained (e.g. decomposition and collapse of the coin), it is usually clear that the nails had been deliberately driven through the skull, the limbs or 2005, 511f.; Remesal 1979, 41 (noting “el considerable número de clavos de bronce aparecidos fuera de las tumbas de la necrópolis de Baelo Claudia, colocados entre las piedras que rodean las tumbas con la punta hacia fuera”); Sillières 1995, 98. See also Bourgeois 1984, 294; Delattre and Magnan 1988, 147; Riquier and Salé 2006, 72. 45 Bérard 1961, 110–111; 115; 123; 135; 156–158 (tombs 3, 6, 13, 19, 20). For tomb 40, see idem 1963, 297–306. Other singular arrangements of nails detected in various Gallic-Roman cemeteries have also been interpreted from a magical point of view; for example, cf. Laet et al. 1972, 30, 115, pl. 72, 149b; Autexier 1976, 81 n. 7; Autexier et al. 1978, 64; Chevillot and Moissat 1980, 227–8; Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 98; Allain 1972, 26, igs. 3–4; Allain et al. 1992, 128–129. However, as Ratel points out 1977, 83, the systematic identiication of these bizarre distributions of nails as ritual evidence ought to be treated with caution. 46 Picentia: Lagi de Caro 1995, 347f.; Via Flaminia: Ortalli 2001, 237 ig. 2; Baelo Claudia: Paris et al. 1926, 118f.; 190 nos. 46f.; Ampurias: Almagro 1955, 91 ig. 69 etc.; ‘El Albir’: González 2001, 360, who does not provide an explanation regarding the peculiar placing of “dos clavos de gran tamaño introducidos en la tierra con la punta hacia abajo”, placed under the tombstones and fragments of dolia which formed the grave. 448 silvia alfayé villa the abdomen.47 It has even been suggested that the piercing of Oedipus’ feet alludes to this practice, since it “seems to be a preemptive ritual designed to cripple a ghost in its eforts to gain revenge”.48 hese two major hypotheses interpret the presence of one or more nails in a tomb as a sympathetic magical practice primarily intended to achieve one of two main conscious intentions: to ward of supernatural danger from the deceased, and to protect the living from revenants by symbolically conining them to the grave.49 In any given case, unless other analogous items are also present in the tomb, it is almost impossible to decide between them. Heuristically however we may posit a continuum between the two poles, apotropaic and ‘ixing’: it seems obvious that practices such as weighing down the corpse with stones, or driving nails through it, are to be located much farther towards to the latter pole than the mere burial of nails beside a tomb. Many cases, perhaps the majority, will have been located somewhere in the middle of the continuum, since the one intention by no means excludes the other. I incline in fact to view the deliberate deposition of nails in a funerary context as a ritual both for and against the dead, a magical practice that included both rituals expressive of afection and rituals intended to avert trouble from the unquiet dead. It may also be that in many cases local custom or belief prescribed the dominant symbolic purpose of such rituals. 4.3. Some Deviant Cases his is however not quite the end of the story. here are a number of archaeological inds of nails in a funerary context that do not it this dual protective/defensive pattern but seem to reveal other, diferent, symbolic intentions. hey serve to conirm my earlier point about the evocative power of objects such as nails. At any rate, it seems clear that these could be employed in defunctive contexts other than for protective purposes. We may take as an example inhumation-grave 110 at Pithekoussai on Ischia (IIp), where a log was found on the corpse’s 47 Cf. Jobbé-Duval 1924/2000, 179–193; Alfayé 2009, eadem, forthcoming. On this practice in the Mediaeval period, cf. Caciola 1996, 15–34; for modern parallels cf. Lawson 1910, 361–484; Frazer 1933–6/2003, I, 75–87. 48 Faraone 1991, 182 n. 62; 194, n. 103. 49 he dual intention has been pointed out by Wolters 1935, 35–36; Wernet 1970, 14; Ratel 1977, 95f.; Chevillot and Moissat 1980, 228–9; Guillier 1992, 27; Hachlili and Killebrew 1999, 139f., 169; Ortalli 2001, 236f; Maioli 2007, 215. nails for the dead 449 abdomen with a 12cm long iron nail hammered through it, the tip pointing towards the skull.50 A similar ritual practice, dating some ive centuries earlier (IIIª), is attested by inhumation-grave 49 of the same necropolis, and in other Roman graves in the cemetery of S. Montano, also on Ischia.51 No ready explanation for this practice is available. hen again, nails may be associated with deixiones in an atypical manner, for example in the cremation zone of the cemetery of Skt. Severin at Mautern on the Danube (Austria); or at Ampurias, where the famous curse tablets were found in ash-urns along with small headless nails—possibly evidence of a ritual performed to empower the execration.52 Finally, many cases in Gallo-Roman cemeteries (I-IVp), and elsewhere, indicate that nails might be used to inlict ritual damage on grave goods such as ceramics or metal vessels.53 5. Magical Solutions to Deadly Problems54 Such considerations are however relatively marginal. he ritual deposition of nails in graves seems mainly to have been apotropaic (against attack by malign spirits), protective/defensive (to protect the living from potential revenants), or a mixture of both.55 Unfortunately, we cannot tell whether the practice was reserved for the tombs of people who, given the circumstances of their death or their degree of social deviancy, were thought particularly likely to become ‘restless dead’.56 We can well imagine however that an attempt might have been made to neutralise such potential threats by recourse to ritual action. It is Buchner and Ridgway 1993, 126f. nos. 110–3 and 4, pl. CXI, no. 20. Buchner and Ridgway 1993, 74–76, 126, pl. XCI no. 22. 52 Mautern (IIIp): Scherrer 1998, 26f. ; 71–79, pls. 14–15; Ampurias (Iª): Almagro 1955, 61–62, pls. 22f. (inc.-tombs Ballesta 22 and 23). Apart from resp. four and two “vástagos cuadrados de clavitos sin cabeza”, the grave goods consisted of a cinerary urn, the deixiones and, in the case of tomb 23, a small bronze tablet. he inclusion of nails, therefore, appears to be deliberate. On these curse tablets, cf. Wilburn 2005, 156–83; and see further the paper by F. Marco Simón above (p. 399). 53 See Bérard 1963, 302–306; Ratel 1977, 92, 95 pl. 10; Chevillot and Moissat 1980, 207–14, 233–4, igs. 7–9; Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 93f.; Simon-Hiernard 1990, 50, plate 25; Allain et al. 1992, 129, plates 40–4. Other instances in Spano 1859, 122; Kurtz and Boardman 1971, 216 pl. 44; Almagro 1953, 72f. no. 1, pl. 39. 54 I borrow the expression from Johnston 1999, 38. 55 Lawson 1910, 410–412, 504–506. ‘Fixing’ the dead can also be understood as a means of protection, since the ghost was thus helped to ind peace. 56 ‘Restless dead’ is the title of Johnston 1999 (cf. n. 38 above). On the funerary indications of social deviancy cf. Shay 1985; Hope 2000, 116–120; Alfayé 2009. 50 51 450 silvia alfayé villa surely signiicant that a considerable percentage of the nails discussed here derive from infants’ burials; infants are one of the categories of particularly dangerous dead (see Table 2).57 On the other hand, this does not mean that such practices must have been immutable or have had a single signiicance over their whole range. Judging from the documentation analysed here, the practice established itself in the western part of the Roman Empire during the Late Republic and became increasingly common during the High Empire. his chronological and geographical spread still needs to be explained. We must also reject mono-causal explanations in favour of multifactorial approaches more in keeping with the polysemic signiicance of the nail in the ancient world. Just to take the evidence of tomb 40 at ‘La Calade’, we can ind nails employed in the construction of the coin, used to pass grave-goods ‘over’ into the next world, and again as ritual deposits of my type.58 It is however obvious that if we are to expand our material basis, we need meticulous excavations that actually see the light of day; we also need further secondary studies documenting the distribution, orientation and context of nails found in the archaeological funerary record.59 More primary material and further careful analysis ofer the only hope of identifying the symbolic value of such nails more precisely, and so ultimately of teasing out their multiple meanings. Unfortunately, nails continue to be considered archaeologically insigniicant, and reports of cemetery excavations oten lack detailed information on such items. Nevertheless I believe that we already possess suicient data to support the view that the deliberate deposition of nails in tombs is a dual form of protective magic. his conclusion does not necessarily exclude other explanations; we should be looking for mutually complementary accounts. As Lombardi puts it: 57 On this category, see Jobbé-Duval 1924/2000, 68–73; Vtervrugt-Lentz 1960; Johnston 1999, 161–199. Note some further instances of special rituals linked to children’s burial in the Roman period: Bérard 1963; Hampartumian 1978, 473–477; Mondanel and Mondanel 1988, 98–100; Allain et al. 1992, 128; Guillier 1992; Soren and Soren 1999, 461–652; Martin-Kircher 2000; Laubenheimer 2004; Vaquerizo 2004, 169–199; Riquier and Salé 2006. 58 Bérard 1963, 295–306. 59 Autexier et al. 1978, 64. nails for the dead 451 forse la spiegazione non esiste, esistono le spiegazioni . . . Non ci possiamo consentire l’ottimismo della spiegazione, dobbiamo ricercare le spiegazioni tenendo conto che i simboli sono polisensi, e potrebbero anche essere ambigui.60 Let me end by repeating the point that greater reinement in our understanding of the polysemic connotations of defunctive nails is only to be expected if practical archaeologists regularly make a point in their reports of ancient cemeteries of noting such apparently insigniicant details in all their diversity, and if those reports are actually published. Only when that primary information is available can others perform the secondary task of comparison and analysis. Bibliography Alfayé, S. 2009. Sit tibi terra gravis: Magical-ritual Practices against Restless Dead in the Ancient World, in F. Marco, F. Pina and J. Remesal (eds.), Formae mortis. El tránsito de la vida a la muerte en las sociedades antiguas (Barcelona) 181–216. ——. Forthcoming. 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