An 1800-year-old amulet unearthed in Germany contains a tiny scroll with Latin text that sheds new light on the spread of Christianity in Northern Europe. The discovery pushes back the timeline of Christianity's presence in the region and suggests its gradual expansion into rural areas.
Learn how researchers use technology and patience to translate a scroll that writes the history of Christianity ’s spread through Northern Europe .Taking five or six years to read 18 lines of Latin might seem slow. But the painstaking effort was worthwhile, because archeologists who deciphered a tiny note tucked inside a nearly 1800-year-old, 1.4-inch-tall amulet found that the passage shed new light on Christianity ’s spread through Northern Europe .
Archeologists first discovered the amulet in a cemetery just outside Frankfurt during a 2017 to 2018 dig. Based on where they found the amulet in the grave, the archaeologists suspect that the man likely wore it around his neck.in Mainz painstakingly restored the scroll, scanned it with CT to view the words, then translated the text, which they shared in December 2024. It was not an easy task. Because the thin sheet had been rolled up so long, it was creased and pressed, making it hard to see the writing. The scientists used CT scans to reconstruct it, then consulted with theologians and historians to interpret it. Both the time of the amulet’s burial and its location are significant. Its date bumps back evidence of Christianity north of the Alps by about 50 years. Its location in a small, rural outpost, rather than a larger urban area, also suggests the religion was spreading.Researchers found a few other unexpected aspects of the amulet as well. First, the use of Latin was surprising. Most inscriptions from similar amulets at the time used Greek or Roman. Also, the fact that the amulet contained a hidden message and was considered important enough to its owner that he be buried with it speak volumes. The scroll might have been secreted inside the jewelry because Christianity was not yet widely accepted. Its owner wearing it to the grave may have spoken to the importance of its owner’s fait
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