How to Slay a Vampire: The Archaeology of Identifying Restless Undead Burials

 

Figure 1: The "vampire" of Venice.  A brick was left in the mouth of the deceased.

 

Human populations around the world have been concerned with various types of monsters, blaming them for various misfortunes and ills that the living suffered with.  There are various reasons for why mythical and fictional monsters and entities were blamed: a lack of understanding of the natural world, a desire to avoid personal accountability, a means of dealing with grief, among others.  This patterns of behavior are most notably observed among European populations, who have a vast written record that can be consulted alongside the extensive archaeological evidence.  Today’s blog post will discuss how archaeologists can view and interpret specific pieces of mortuary evidence to identify the killing of the dead and the belief in reanimated corpses, which today are  known as vampires.

 

It was around AD 1000 that Europeans began to not only believe but act upon the belief that the dead (humans) could and would reanimate (return from the dead) to cause harm among the living.  This harm specifically took the form of spreading disease, primarily among living family members and close friends.  Europeans believed the dead were seeking out these individuals for comfort and to continue their lives as they had prior to death, and the spread of disease among them was so the deceased would have companionship in death.  It is more likely that these individuals spent a lot of time with the deceased before they died, and if the deceased died from a communicable disease then it is likely that the disease spread but went unnoticed due to symptoms not yet manifesting.

 

It was this trend, wherein someone died and several other family members and close friends became gravely ill and/or died, that led community members to suspect a vampire was loose.  Additional events, such as crop failures, dead livestock, or community wide misfortune, could also either reinforce this assumption or cause a vampire investigation on its own.  Immediately, it started with a suspected deceased individual being identified as the suspected vampire and their body exhumed.  If the deceased exhibited minimal decomposition or evidence of natural decomposition (e.g., rosy face, black and blue complexion, blood oozing out of their body, a plump and bloated body, recession of skin that leads to an appearance of growing hair, teeth, and nails, etc.) they would be declared a vampire and dispatched or destroyed as it was believed that would stop the unfortunate events.

 

This is where archaeologists can identify a potential vampiric burial based on the material cultural evidence that would be left behind during the “killing” of the deceased individual.  These could include evidence of a stake or object used to stake the deceased into their grave to prevent them from rising.  Alternatively, nails, pins, or thorns near or on the feet could demonstrate an attempt to prevent the dead from walking or running out of their grave.  Items, including coins, piece of pottery, brick or large stone, or wad of cotton, in or near the mouth were believed to inhibit the dead from literally consuming the living, stopping them from exiting their burial place (Figure 1).  It was common in certain areas of Europe to simply leave a sickle or knife on a body as it was believed that alone would cause bodily harm to the rising dead, disabling their ability to exit their burial.  Sometimes the living would leave bread and wine, representations of the body and blood of Christ, with the deceased as a means of providing holy sustenance to the deceased and satisfying their hunger, negating the need for them to leave their grave. 

 

When physical, material cultural evidence is missing (due to poor preservation conditions or the employment of different means of destroying the dead) there are other ways to identify a potential killing of the undead.  These include decapitation and placement of the head on the torso, legs, or feet.  Sometimes the hands and feet would be removed as a means of stopping the deceased from leaving their grade, or the heart would be removed since the heart was viewed as the lifeforce of the living and the dead.  Unfortunately, these acts can be the result of other actions, such as executions, murders, punishment for crimes (e.g., removal of the hands was a common punishment for thieves).  In cases where a body is fully skeletonized it may be difficult to determine if a heart was removed unless specific evidence is present.

 

Ultimately, if and when these pieces of evidence are discovered, particularly when multiple pieces of evidence are found together, then an archaeologist can assume that perhaps the killing of the dead occurred, leading to a conclusion that the restless dead or early vampiric burial occurred.  Again, multiple lines of evidence are required to support these conclusions since alternative conclusions can be reached (see above).  The absence of these pieces of evidence also cannot negate the occurrence of such actions against certain individuals (as preservation biases can and do occur, leading to a loss of evidence).  When such pieces of evidence are present, however, it makes a strong claim that such actions did take place, leading to a greater understanding of past belief systems and traditions.

Bibliography

Barber, P. (1988). Vampires, Burial, and Death. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Barrowclough, D. (2014). Time to Slay Vampire Burials? The Archaeological and Historical Evidence for Vampires in Europe. Cambridge: Red Dagger Press.

Betsinger, T. K., & Scott, A. (2014). Governing from the Grave: Vampire Burials and Social Order in Post-medieval Poland. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 467 - 476.

Blair, J. (2025). Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Calmet, A. (1850). The Phantom World: The Vampires of Moravia.

McCarthy, E. (2003). Death to Vampires! The Vampire Body and the Meaning of Mutilation. In C. T. Kungl, Vampires: Myths and Metaphors for Evil (pp. 73-79). Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Press.

 

 

 

Paying Respects: An Exploration of Mortuary Cannibalism

Throughout the tenure of this blog there have been several posts about a universally taboo topic: cannibalism.  Most have addressed incidents of cannibalism in the past, examining it from a paleoanthropological and archaeological standpoint.  Cannibalism is not a figment of our past, though.  It is something that has occurred in recent human history, although not due to terrorizing and criminal motivations.  Today’s blog post will address a different type of cannibalism, which is not often discussed although seemingly controversial.  Today’s blog post will explore the topic of mortuary cannibalism. 

 

Mortuary cannibalism is a type of cannibalism wherein parts or the whole body of a deceased loved one is consumed.  This act is viewed as a means of paying respect to or honoring the dead.  The living believe that through the consumption of the deceased’s flesh and/or blood they are living on within the living, thereby never truly dying.  While many readers may immediately revolt at this notion this idea of keeping pieces of the dead among the living is not too different from the beliefs that drove Victorian mortuary traditions (e.g., hair wreaths; dolls made up of the dead’s hair, nails, or other body parts; or mortuary jewelry that contained pieces of the dead and worn among the living-note, this custom continues on today by way of lockets containing the ashes of deceased loved ones).

 

While this type of cannibalism has been identified it is important to state that there exists no record of observance of such actions.  The last known mortuary cannibalism practices to have believed to have occurred were among the Wari of South America.  Anthropologist Beth Conklin reported the discontinued mortuary cannibalism traditions among the Wari based on narratives shared with her.  According to what she was told the Wari believed that death was an isolating experience for an individual, and that it was also disrespectful and polluting to the Earth to bury deceased individuals.  Again, this idea is not too far from some comments Westerners make about the dead (e.g., that they are “worm meat”). The Wari believed it was far more respectful to consume the deceased, which was completed through an elaborate ritual. 

 

This ritual required all living family members, regardless of how geographically far they were, to congregate and participate in the mortuary ritual.  Blood relatives and in-laws (relatives through marriage) would come together, and upon all family members assembling the mortuary rituals of the deceased would begin.  Without getting into graphic detail the body would be placed upon a funeral pyre, and leaves and pots placed under the body to catch any parts of the body that may fall from the pyre.  Upon extinguishment of the fire the blood relatives would leave and the in-laws (who were not related to the deceased by blood) would consume the body. 

 

There were several reasons why this act of mortuary cannibalism took place.  First, it satisfied the grief of the blood relatives, who believed that their dead loved one lived on among the in-law family members.  It also bonded the in-laws through flesh and blood to the blood family members, transforming them into closer and blooded family.  Lastly, the disappearance of the deceased’s corpse also erased the death, leaving the family members with no reason to continue to grieve.  The person was gone but not truly gone and definitely not forgotten.  In this way this ritual acted as a cessation/closing of the grief cycle.  As strange as that may sound it is an important means of releasing complex feelings of loss and a means of opening new hope and beginnings.  A means of moving on in the face of great tragedy.

 

References

 

Burley, M. (2016). Eating Human Beings. Philosophy, 483-501.

Conklin, B. (1995). "Thus are out bodies, thus was our custom": Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society. American Ethnologist, 75-101.

Schutt, B. (2017). Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.

Protecting Livelihoods: The Curse at the En Gedi Synagogue

 

Mosaic floor of the En Gedi Synagogue

It is said that people will go to great lengths to protect the one’s they love.  The same could easily be said about protecting one’s own interests.  This latter point is emphasized by an archaeological discovery in Israel, which is the subject of this post.  Continue reading to learn about the interpretation of the curse inscribed on the floor of a synagogue in the ancient town of En Gedi.

 

En Gedi is located along the Dead Sea coastline of modern day Israel.  The ancient city of En Gedi was host to several synagogues, but one in particular is of interest in this post.  This modest structure was originally excavated in the early 1970s.  Its small size led scholars to initially believe it was of no great importance, but further excavations and evidence demonstrated that this particular synagogue was of great importance to area residents. 

 

It was constructed in the third century C.E. and destroyed in the seventh century C.E. This means it was in use during the Late Roman and Early Byzantine eras. The synagogue contained a host of important artifacts that provide information about early religious values, beliefs, and practices of Jews of the area.  One peculiar discovery, however, was a mosaic inscription in the floor of the synagogue.  It was that of a curse that read as follows: 

 

"anyone causing a controversy between a man and his fellows or who (says) slanders his friends before the gentiles or steals the property of his friends, or anyone revealing the secret of the town to the gentiles..."

 

It was initially unclear what the curse meant or why it was present on the floor of the synagogue.  This remained a mystery for 25 years.  When Hebrew University archaeologist Yizhar Hirschfeld excavated around the synagogue he found the answer to the mystery.  En Gedi was one of three locations wherein balsam trees were grown and harvested.  Balsam production was highly prized in ancient Judea and among ancient Romans because balsam was believed to be a curative agent.  It was also a central component of perfumes at that time.  It was a lucrative industry, and one that its producers wanted to keep closely guarded.  Hirschfeld believes the curse is meant to warn people against revealing the secrets of the balsam production.  He reached this conclusion based on material cultural evidence that showed the link between the synagogue and the balsam production of the area.  The placement of the curse in this sacred structure may have been intentional and struck fear (or least caution) into those who may have considered sharing the balsam production secrets with others.  It is unclear if and to what extent this warning worked, but for now this mysterious curse appears resolved.

 

References

Landau, D. 2013. The Lost Temples of Maximinus Daia. Unpublished manuscript.

Magness, J. (2022). The Synagogue at En-Gedi.  Israel Exploration Journal, p. 254-259.

Rabinovich, A. (1997, February 25). Curse of the Balsam Cookers. Archaeology Magazine.

Why Do We Say, “Colder Than a Witch’s Teet”?

 

Figure 1: Misspelled variation of the phrase "Colder than a witch's tit"

 

Within the American English dialect there exist a fair number of strange idioms, or phrases, that are used to describe any number of phenomenon.  Several of these idioms have been previously addressed on this blog (e.g., sweet phrases and colorful ones).  Today’s post continues with the tradition of explaining the origins and meanings of unique American phrases, and given the time of year today’s phrase is one that is not often used: “Colder than a witch’s teet.”

 

The idiom “colder than a witch’s teet” has many variations.  These include spelling teet as tit (the contemporary equivalent to the older teet, both of which refer to nipples).  There are also misspellings of witch’s to witches, with the former being a possessive and the latter being a pluralization of the singular witch (Figure 1).  There is also an extension of the phrase wherein it goes, “Colder than a witch’s tit in a brass brassiere” (note, this version is not the subject of today’s post and will not be discussed further).  Regardless of how it is said the phrase means that it is unusually cold outside. 

 

Surprisingly, the phrase originated fairly recently.  It was first published in an American mystery novel, Spider House, authored by Francis Van Wyck Mason.  The first edition of this book came out in 1932.  It is unclear if the author invented the phrase on his own or if it was derived from street slang.  This remains unclear since several sources claim that variations of the term were and remain part of popular language throughout New England and the American West, although these claims are unverified. 

 

The question of where this idiom came from is less murky, however.  It is very likely that the phrase borrows from terms used during the 1600s Witch Trials.  As previously discussed on this blog the Witch Trials (and related Werewolf Trials) existed as a means for social groups to ostracize and cast out any individuals viewed as socially or physically abnormal.  Throughout the 1600s deviant men were labeled werewolves, while deviant women were labeled witches.  A series of criteria were identified to help “witch hunters” identify women, in particular, as witches.  One such criteria was the presence of “witch’s tits”.  This term was coined by famous English witch hunters Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer, who claimed such tits were meant for the suckling on by witch’s familiars or Satan himself.  Their description of a “witch’s tit” was very similar to the anatomy of the clitoris, and as such required witch hunters across the world to take special care in examining women’s pubic areas.  Upon discovery of an enlarged or swollen clitoris the woman would be declared guilty of witchcraft and dispatched as deemed fit by the local authorities. 

 

It is unclear how, where, and why the witch’s tit was associated with cold. Some claim it may be linked to the belief that witchy women were cold blooded.  It could be related to the natural phenomenon of constriction that occurs to other parts of a woman’s body when it is cold.  Or it could have been something that Francis Van Wyck Mason found interesting and provocative, leading him to make that connection.  Ultimately, the phrase exists in part due to the history of the witch trials and Francis Van Wyck Mason creative writing skills.

 

Works Cited

Briggs, R. (2002). Shapeshifting, Apparitions, and Fantasy in Witchcraft Trials. In K. A. Edwards, Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits: Traditional Belief in Folklore in Early Modern Europe (pp. 1-24). Kirksville: Truman State University Press.

Martin, G. (2026, August). Colder than a witch's tit. Retrieved from Phrase Finder: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/colder-than-a-witchs-tit.html

New Jersey History Project. (2025). Origins of Cold as Balls and Cold as a Witch’s Teet. Retrieved from Mr. Local History Project: https://mrlocalhistory.org/coldasballs/

Orr, C. M. (1976). Folk comparisons from Colorado. Western folklore, 35(3), 175-208.