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 Flaviae details of that founding remain obscure. Ptolemy suggests that it was founded in Turodi territory, a theory that has been strengthened by the existence of epigraphic evidence documenting the presence of Turodi. Aquae Flaviae Aquae Flaviae (or "Aquæ Flaviæ") is the ancient Roman city and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) of Chaves, a municipality in the Portuguese district of Vila Real. The northwest peninsular region is an area of hot springs and Roman settlements linked to the exploitation of valuable natural resources. Aquae Flaviae was the principal "municipium civitas" in the northwest (from epigraphic findings) implanted in