People living centuries ago surely had unique practices and rituals, one of which was discovered recently when a ‘vampire burial’ was found that had remains of a 10-year-old with a rock stuffed in its mouth to stop it from rising from the grave.

Archaeologists have discovered a horrible vampire burial at an ancient Roman site in Italy. They have found a skeleton of a 10-year-old, which was stuffed with a rock inside its mouth as part of a funeral ritual to contain disease and prevent the child rising from the dead and spreading the disease to the living.

“I have never seen anything like it. It’s extremely eerie and weird,” said archaeologist David Soren. Researchers predict that the stone was forced inside the jaw and put there with intent.

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Daily Mail reported that the skeleton was discovered at the Cemetery of the Babies that dates back to the mid-fifth century, the time when a deadly malaria outbreak swept the area. Researchers believe that this discovery has the potential to educate more about the disturbing malaria epidemic that hit the area around 1,500 years ago, and how locals ‘used witchcraft’ in response.

However, the remains of the 10-year-old, now also known as ‘Vampire of Lugnano’, have not yet undergone DNA testing and the gender of the child is unknown till now. However, it did have an abscessed tooth, which is a side effect of malaria, suggesting that the child might have fallen victim to the disease, said fellow bioarcheologist Jordan Wilson.

Soren said, “We know that the Romans were very much concerned with this and would even go to the extent of employing witchcraft to keep the evil – whatever is contaminating the body – from coming out.”

Such ritual practices have been discovered before when archaeologists discovered infant and toddler bones beside raven talons, toad bones, bronze cauldrons filled with ash and remains of puppies that appeared to have been sacrificed; objects commonly linked with witchcraft and magic. There was also a body found of a 3-year-old having stones weighing down her hands and feet to keep the deceased in their graves, wrote Metro.

“This is a very unusual mortuary treatment that you see in various forms in different cultures, especially in the Roman world, that could indicate there was a fear that this person might come back from the dead and try to spread disease to the living,” Wilson added.