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
Albulae Aquae fact." Albulae Aquae Albulae Aquae ("The White Water") is a group of springs located West of Tivoli in Italy. The springs' water is bluish, strongly impregnated with sulphur and carbonate of lime, and rises at a temperature of about . The remains of a Roman thermal establishment exist near the principal spring, the so-called Lago della Regina, which is continually diminishing in size owing to deposits left by the water. Dedicatory inscriptions in honour of the waters have been found at the site. It is mentioned briefly by many ancient authors, among them, Virgil, Vitruvius, Isidore of Seville, and Pliny