>> it does sound similar but different, very interesting stuff <<

There are a lot of variations on how to make a little bundle of magic, overlapping among different traditions. Voudoun is one that uses a lot of curses for survival, and they're often combinations of nasty things in a container.

>>my prof always asked permission from the ancestors and poured a libation for them before doing excavations, which i think is a really good thing to do. more archaeologists should do that imo<<

Very sensible.