CURSE TABLET

A folded lead alloy tablet of unknown date, possibly a 'Roman curse tablet' (AD 70-410). Although this object has been classified as a curse tablet, it is possibly more modern and may have performed an entirely different function, perhaps such as a weight or ingot. The object is formed of a thin lead strip that has been folded over and over. The end of the strip is raised slightly from the rest of the metal. The object is undecorated, and flat. As the object cannot be unrolled without damaging it, we cannot be sure if there is an inscription within. The surface is grey with patches of a dark brown patina.
The length is 18mm, the width is 13mm and the weight 12.27g. Other curse tablets have been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. See finds: CAM-9EB3F2, KENT-35F464, LVPL-85ADA3, LVPL-DEA234, NARC1463, NCL-2ABD75, PAS-713571 and WILT-EE1C84.

During the Roman period production of curse tablets consisting of written curses on small sheets of lead which were then rolled and offered to the gods was a common practice. As stray finds, out of context and still rolled up it is difficult to say whether such rolled lead sheets are Roman curse tablets or just pieces of waste lead from some sort of manufacture. The use of such objects as weights has also been posited.