The Temple of the Mud God.

Archaeologists working at a site on the northeastern fringe of the Nile Delta have uncovered what they believe to be a temple to a god of mud, according to a press release issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on their Facebook page. The site, which lies within the ancient city of Pelusium (or Blozium), a name which itself means 'mud', was first identified in 2019, when a portion of a red brick circular structure was uncovered, something which was originally identified as a possible Senate building, dating from the cities Greek or Roman period.

A section of the red brick wall surrounding the temple complex at Pelusium. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

When fully uncovered the structure proved to be a huge circular basin 35 m in diameter, with a plinth in the middle for a statue. This was connected to a system of cisterns and channels which would have carried salty, silt-laden water from the Pelusic Nile (the 'Muddy' Nile, one of the branches of the Nile Delta) into the basin, which has been interpreted as a religious centre for the God Pelusius, or Blozius, whose name meant 'mud' and who was the patron deity for the city.

The exposed temple site. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The site is thought to have been in use from the second century BC until the sixth century AD, i.e. through the Greek and Roman periods of the city, and is being compared to other temples in the Hellenic and Roman worlds rather than to other Egyptian temples.

Archaeologists working on the temple site. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The city of Pelusium was established as a port at the eastern margin of the marshes of the Nile Delta during the Egyptian Old Kingdom, but this port had silted up by the first century BC. Today, the city is several kilometres from the sea, and lies in the northwest Sinai Desert, cut off from the Nile Delta by the Suez Canal. The city was a significant border fortress to the Egyptians, and remained an important administrative centre during Roman times. It was noted for the production of flax and beer.

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Stela depicting Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar as Egyptian Pharaoh discovered at Karnak Temple.

Archaeologists from the Egyptian-French Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak have uncovered a stela (stone tablet) depicting the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar as the Egyptian Pharaoh while working on a restoration project, according to a press release issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on their Facebook Page. The stela, which is approximately 60 cm high, 40 cm wide, and 10 cm deep, is made out of sandstone and depicts the Emperor dressed as a Pharaoh and making an offering to the Egyptian gods Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu. 

A stela discovered at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, depicting the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar dressed as Pharaoh of Egypt making offerings to the Egyptian gods Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu (known as the 'Thebian Triad') were a trinity of gods worshipped at Thebes, who became important throughout Egypt from the New Kingdom onwards. Amun-Ra was a fusion of the earlier gods, Amun, one of the eight deities the Old Kingdom held responsible for the creation of the universe, and the Sun God Ra. His consort, Mut (which translates as 'mother') was said to have given birth to the world, and everything in it. This originally appears to have been a separate creation myth, but over time she became associated with Amun-Ra, with the pair becoming a divine couple. The god Khonsu was seen as the son of this divine couple, and was also associated with the creation of the universe, as well as having responsibility for moving the Moon across the heavens. 

Paying tribute to this triad of gods was an important part of the duties of the Pharaoh, who was the head of the Egyptian religion as well as ruler of the country. The title of Pharaoh passed to the Roman Emperors when the state was brought into the Roman Empire by the first emperor, Augustus, in 27 BC, which meant such duties at least in theory passed to the Roman ruler. It is, however, unlikely that Tiberius (or any other emperor) travelled to Egypt to perform the role, it is likely that having a representative do this was acceptable to the Egyptians. Egypt had previously been part of the Achaemenid Empire, whose rulers were equally unlikely to travel to Egypt for local religious ceremonies, so it is likely that a procedure for this eventuality was available long before the Roman conquest.

On the Roman side, adopting local religions was a part of the strategy used in integrating new territories into their Empire, often by declaring that local gods were aspects of, or alternative names for, their own gods. This often involved investment in temples, shrines, and other religious infrastructure that local sects had not previously enjoyed, increasing the status of the local religion, and provided people travelling from the provinces with impressive temples to their own gods in Rome. In Egypt, the same approach had already been taken by the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, who had paired Egyptian gods with their Greek equivalents, providing a template for the Romans to follow. Thus Amun was seen as the equivalent of Jupiter, a respectable god for a Roman Emperor to be depicted worshipping.

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The impact of the Roman occupation on the health of the ancient people of England.

The Roman invasion of England in 43 AD led to a profound social and environmental upheaval, which has generally been assumed to have been detrimental to the local population, who faced exposure to novel pathogens and restricted access to resources. Archaeological investigations have suggested that the people of Roman-occupied England were significantly less healthy than those of either the preceding Iron Age of following Early Medieval periods. However, data on Iron Age England is notoriously sparse, with only a few known burial sites, compared to the large number of Romano British cemeteries, potentially creating a biased perception of the health of Iron Age Britons.

The Iron Age itself was a period of profound change, with new methods of land management, social structures, and production technologies were introduced to Britain. However, this was not an even process, with fluctuations in the rate of change across the country. Burials from this period are rare, with most known burials being of individuals, which may not be representative of the population as a whole, and only a small number of burial grounds. 

The rate of change in ancient England accelerated sharply after the Roman occupation, with the introduction of new technologies and ideas from the continent, and a single administration governing the entire population. For the first time a significant difference between the upper and lower social classes appears in the archaeological record. However, research on this period has tended to concentrate on the wealthier Roman or Romanised sections of the community, which may lead to a distorted perception of its society.

The impact of the Roman occupation itself appears to have varied across the country, but the general trend appears to have been to place a strain upon the local population which did not lift until the fifth century. This was driven not just by exposure to new diseases and additional strains upon resources, but also by the imposing of a new system of social division which caused the greatest hardship to marginalised communities. Recent studies have shed light on the rates of infection,metabolic deficiencies, and growth disruption in Roman Britain, but similar studies on the population of Iron Age Britain, which would enable comparison, are missing.

Current models in anthropology and biomedical science suggest that the period between conception and the second birthday is crucial to healthy development, and that the environment of a child during this period can affect not just the health of the individual as an adult, but also that of subsequent generations. Thus, in archaeology, studying the remains of children can significantly increase our understanding of the pressures that a population faced, improving our understanding of the health of the community.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 11 December 2025, Rebecca Pitt of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading presents the results of a study in which she compared the skeletons of children and women of maternal age (approximately 18-45) from rural and urban settlements in England from the fourth century BC till the fourth century AD.

Pitt selected 646 skeletons (274 women and 372 children) from 24 Iron Age and Roman sites. These included 116 women and 150 children from Iron Age sites, 63 women and 144 children from rural Roman sites, and 95 women and 78 children from urban Roman sites. 

The Iron Age sites were chosen from across England, to give a full scope of life in this period. However, because the Roman occupation of England is known not to have been similar everywhere, with a heavier military presence in the west and north. To try to ensure similarity of conditions at different Roman sites, Pitt selected remains only from sites in the south and central part of England, including Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire, and Peterborough. These remains were additionally from the later part of the Roman occupation, to ensure that any developmental disorders detected were caused by the strain of living under Roman rule, not the initial disruption of the Roman invasion. Skeletons deemed to be from high status graves, as determined by the presence of stone sarcophagi or lavish grave goods, or by their placement in family mausoleums, were excluded.

Locations of sites with human skeletal remains selected for analysis; (left) Iron Age settlements; (right) Roman settlements and their proximity to Roman roads. Pitt (2025).

Each skeleton was analysed to determine its age at death and health status. Adult skeletons were also examined to determine their sex, though this was not done for child skeletons as there are no reliable markers before puberty. Skeletons were only included in the study if the cranial vault, thoracic spine and long bones were preserved. 

For the juvenile skeletons, priority was given to age determination by the formation, development, mineralisation and eruption of each tooth. If this was not possible, long bone diaphyseal lengths were used. Only skeletons deemed to be younger than 3.5-years-old (including foetal remains) were included in the study. 

Child skeletons were assessed for growth disruption, which is indicative of impaired health prompted by environmental stress, by comparing the expected diaphyseal long bone length to the age-at-death as determined by dental development. 

Both adult and child skeletons were analysed for dental and skeletal lesions, their locations, and whether they were healed or active at the time of death. The prevalence of such lesions within each community was determined by comparing the number of skeletons with a lesson on a skeletal element to the number of skeletons within which that element was present, for each population.

Six different types of lesion were included in the study: Dental enamel hypoplasia, defined as linear enamel defects across two or more bilateral teeth, cribra orbitalia, which presents as pores in the roofs of he eye sockets, dental disease such as caries or periodontal disease, bone infection, which manifests as layers of woven or dense lamellar bone, respiratory infections, such as sinusitis, visceral rib lesions, or tuberculosis, and metabolic conditions such as vitamin C deficiency, or vitamin D deficiency, which manifest as diagnostic modifications of the long bones, teeth, and other skeletal elements.

Of the 372 child skeletons included in the study, 146 of them (39.3%) were found to display some form of palaeopathological lesion, with dental enamel hypoplasia and bone infections being the most abundant. The proportion of children showing such symptoms varied from group-to-group, with 26% of Iron Age children (39 of 150 individuals) showing lesions, compared to 41% of rural Roman children (59 of 144 children) and 61.5% of urban Roman children (48 of 78 children). The most common pathologies were bone infections, found in 15.3% of Iron Age children, 21.8% of urban Roman children, and 28.5% of rural Roman children. Urban Roman children also showed high rates of metabolic conditions, which were found in 19.2% of these skeletons, and cribula orbata, found in 19.4% of urban Roman children. Dental enamel hypoplasia was found in 34.5% of urban Roman children, and 18.1% of rural Roman children, but only 4.5% of Iron Age children.

Roman non-adult pathology: (a) flattening of humeral heads, suggestive of vitamin D deficiency; (b) cribra orbitalia; (c) non-specific infection (distal femur); (d) new bone on the greater wings of the sphenoid bone, suggestive of vitamin C deficiency; (e) dental enamel hypoplasia on deciduous incisors, presenting as a grooved depression; (f) lytic foci on the proximal head of a radius, suggestive of tuberculosis. Pitt (2025).

It was possible to calculate whether growth has been disrupted in 142 of the individuals, with only 3.1% of Iron Age children showing such developmental issues, compared to 25.5% of rural Roman children and 51.9% of urban Roman children. This was most common in children over six months old, suggesting that children were protected by 'maternal buffering' before being born and while being breast fed, but began to falter as they were weaned. 

Of the 274 adult women included in the study, 189 (69%) showed symptoms of some form of health issue, with dental pathologies being the most common. Other conditions found included lesions with complex aetiologies, including congenital changes, osteochondroma, button osteomas and hyperostosis frontalis interna.

This was much more common in the urban Roman women (81.1%) than Iron Age women (62.1%) or rural Roman women (63.5%). Although dental pathologies were the most common overall, the prevalence of these did not vary greatly between populations. The majority of the difference between the groups appeared to be driven by metabolic conditions, which were found in 28.8% of urban Roman women, but only 4,3% of rural Roman women and 1.1% of Iron Age women. Respiratory infections were also much more common in urban Roman women, being found in 10.5% of individuals, compared to 0.9% of Iron Age women, and 3.2% of rural Roman women. Dental enamel hypoplasia, considered to be a sympton of stress, was also more common in urban Roman women, affecting 45.0% of individuals, compared to 19.0% of Iron Age women and 23.9% of rural Roman women.

Roman adult female pathology: (a) residual bilateral bowing of femora; (b) ‘chair-shaped’ pulp chamber of a first molar, indicative of vitamin D deficiency; (c) lytic lesions on a rib shaft, suggestive of tuberculosis; (d) non-specific infection (shaft of fibula); (e) cribra orbitalia; (f) dental enamel hypoplasia on permanent incisors. Pitt (2025).

Pitt's study reveals a marked decline in the health of both infants and maternal aged women during the Roman period, something which was particularly marked in urban areas. Previous studies on the health of fourth century urban populations in the UK have produced similar results, suggesting that this was not so much a Roman 'Golden Age' as it has traditionally been seen, but a time of fluctuating populations, with periodic overcrowding and nutritional stress. 

The rise in pathologies in Roman populations, and in particular in urban Roman populations, may have been caused by exposure to lead. Romans made extensive use of lead, using it to make everything from pipes to cooking utensils to toys, as well as using it as an additive in wines and foods. Because it was used in piping, even the poorest sections of urban Roman society are likely to have been ingesting lead, which can disrupt metabolic pathways leading to nutritional deficiencies even in people with good diets. Young children are known to be particularly vulnerable to this form of poisoning.  

Previous studies have suggested similar rates of metabolic problems in rural and urban populations, but Pitt found a significant difference between the two for both adult women and children. Children in rural Roman England appeared to be suffering higher rates of stress related pathologies and infectious diseases than their Iron Age predecessors, but there was little difference between rural Roman and Iron Age women. This may indicate that Roman occupation changed the lives of rural English populations less than is generally assumed, with local customs and ways of life persisting away from urban centres.

Iron Age Britain is often perceived as very regionalised, with communities in different parts of the country living very different lives, while the Romans are seen as having imposed a colonial administration with a centralised bureaucracy which imposed their version of civilisation throughout the land. However, recent studies have suggested that even under Roman occupation, the country remained quite diverse, with the adoption of Roman customs differing from area to area.

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Series of 'curse-amulets' found in burials at Romano-Gaulish cemetery in Orléans, France.

Archaeologists from Le Service Archaeologie Orléans have discovered a series of  'curse-amulets' in burials at a Romano-Gaulish cemetery beneath an eighteenth century hospital in the city of Orléans in north-central France, according to a press release issued on 7 January 2025. The cemetery, which was discovered in 2022, was already considered unusual, in that it comprises a single row of about 60 graves along a wall, and that all of those buried here appear to have been adult males, contrary to typical Roman practice. The burials are thought to date from the first-to-third centuries AD. All of the dead were buried in painted wooden coffins, with no sign of any cremations. Curiously, 21 of the graves also contained 'curse-amulets'.

Location of the 'curse-amulet', labelled as 'Tablette de défixion' within burial F2199 at the Orléans Romano-Gaulish cemetery. Le Service Archaeologie Orléans.

'Curse-amulets' (properly called 'defixion tablets') are sheets of lead upon which an inscription calling for supernatural intervention has been written. The use of lead was not just practical (although it was practical, since the soft nature of lead made it easy to inscribe and fold or roll up) but also served a symbolic purpose, lead being associated with the underworld and the gods who dwelt there in the Greek and Roman worlds. Thus, the invocations on these amulets were typically calling on these gods to cause harm to someone, with more benign prayers written on different materials. Curse amulets were often hidden somewhere on their intended victims property, or buried deep in the ground where they might better reach the chthonic deities.

The curse amulet recovered from grave F2199 in its folded state. Le Service Archaeologie Orléans.

To date, one of the curse amulets from Orléans has been partially deciphered. This amulet, from grave F2199, was carefully unrolled and then chemically treated to remove patches of corrosion and protect its surface from further degradation. The inscription thus revealed was to faint to be read by the Human eye, but has been largely revealed using Reflectance Transformation Imaging, a method which involves taking photographs from a large number of different angles, then using software to create a three-dimensional model of the surface. An online tool showing Reflectance Transformation Imaging of the amulet can be found here. 

The text revealed on the amulet from grave F2199 by Reflectance Transformation Imaging. Le Service Archaeologie Orléans.

The inscription revealed appears to be in the ancient Gallic language, written in Latin cursive, with some borrowed words from Greek and Latin. This has been interpreted as 'ib r…mi [m]arte rigisamu | a]nmantigIu, Se uiron bnanon uanderonado brixton sod-esti, Cisin…piSSlon atlon atemiston, Etic se-uiron banon canti piSSiantas, Sollebne(m), Marulliam, Sulpici(i), Claudia(m), Marulliam g., Curiatiu(m), Mat|(e)rno(n), Tiberium, Cantognati, Sulpici(i), (B)regesia, Regina Italica pri(uata) Sulpici(i), Regina Regina, Regina dona Tibe(rius), [..]ix, Ateporigis, Lecti, (Se)gouisu(m)'. 

Gallic is not a well-understood language, but can be deciphered to some extent by comparison to other ancient Celtic languages, such as Old Irish, Old Breton, and Old Welsh. The inscription  has been translated by the linguist Pierre-Yves Lambert as reading 'To Mars the Royal, who pierces names, It is the bewitchment of these men and women below (named) who accomplished the unfortunate and unjust feat, and also all those who were accomplices of these men and women', followed by a list of Latin names, then an invocation to 'Regina' (presumably a reference to a deity), then some more names in Gallic.

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Archaeologists uncover grave of fourth century Alammani tribesman in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany.

Archaeologists from the consultancy firm ArchaeoBW carrying out survey work at Gerstetten in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, for Stuttgart Regional Council ahead of a housing construction project have uncovered a wood-lined grave, according to a press release issued by the council on 27 August 2024. The grave, which was first discovered in May, contained a partial skeleton as well as some trade goods.

A partial skeleton uncovered in a grave site in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. Gizem Dakmaz/Stuttgart Regional Council.

Wooden graves of this type are associated with the Alammani, an ancient Germanic tribe first mentioned in Roman records by Lucius Cassius Dio in 213 AD. Such graves are typically date to the fourth century AD and are found in groups of five-to-twelve, and it is possible that other undiscovered graves lie close to the one discovered in Gerstetten. 

The skeleton and other items from the grave were taken to the laboratory of the State Office for Monument Preservation of Stuttgart Regional Council in Esslingen, where examination of the skeletal remains determined that they came from a man aged about 60. A radiocarbon date obtained from a rib suggest that the man died between 263 and 342 AD.

As well as the skeleton, a number of items interpreted as grave goods were also found, including a Roman-style glass cup, which may have come from the Roman fort of Guntia (modern Günzburg in Bavaria), two ceramic pots, similar in style to other pots known from the Middle Elbe-Saale region, and a bone comb.

Two ceramic pots from a fourth century grave site in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany. Gizem Dakmaz/Stuttgart Regional Council.

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