Bath curse tablets the Romans as "Aquae Sulis") were excavated between 1978 and 1983 by a team led by Barry Cunliffe and Peter Davenport. In 1979/1980, around 130 tablets were discovered in an excavation of the "Sacred Spring" under the King's Bath. The spring had been temporarily diverted to facilitate the excavation, revealing a huge array of Roman era items including the tablets. The tablets, some in a fragmentary state, were small and rectangular and initially were assumed to be made of lead, although subsequent metallurgical analysis revealed that they are, in fact, made of lead alloyed with tin, with occasional traces of
Aquae Sulis cuamiun ai" "The affixed – Deuina, Deieda, Andagin, (and) Uindiorix – I have bound" An alternative translation based on a much better knowledge of the Celtic languages is the following: "May I, Windiorix for/at Cuamena defeat (alt. "summon to justice") the worthless woman, oh divine Deieda." (Alt. "Divine Deiada, may I, Windiorix, bring to justice/defeat (in court) the woman at Cuamena".) This is a superior, though still uncertain, translation in that it takes into account the nominal cases of the nouns: "Windiorix" (alt. "Windorix") - nominative masculine (subject), lit. "fair-headed" ("windo") "king" ("rix"); "Dewina Deieda" - nominative/vocative feminine "divine Deieda"