The burial of a lightning bolt (fulgur), along with all the objects struck by it, was an ancient Etruscan ritual, documented both by literary sources and by certain fortuitous archaeological finds in Luni, Pompeii, Todi, Minturno, Ostia and in the city of Rome.
A lightning strike was regarded as a clear signal that a given area or object had been claimed by a deity, consequently requiring being consacrated through specific religious dispositions. Following a meticulous inspection by the priests of the entire affected area, to retrieve all traces of the prodigious phenomenon, the charred objects were given a burial, sometimes within a sarcophagus, along with a stone identified as the actual lightning bolt. The entire ceremony would have been accompanied by funeral songs, prayers and by the sacrifice of a two-year-old sheep (ovis bidens). The place was market by a small mound surrounded by stones, sometimes built up in the shape of a well (puteal).
Surrounded by a fence, at the close of the ritual the entire area (bidental), was marked by an inscription and became consecrated, like a tomb. No trade or other human activity was allowed there. Some literary sources report that even looking at a bidental was forbidden. The desecration of such a sacred space was considered a heinous crime.