Aceldama (a-sĕl'da-mah), field of blood. Acts 1:19. A field said to have been intended for the burial of strangers, which the chief priests bought with the money returned by Judas, as the price of the Saviour's blood. Matthew 27:6-8. It was just without the wall of Jerusalem, south of Mount Zion, and is supposed to have been originally called the Potter's Field, because it furnished a sort of clay suitable for potter's ware. The "field of blood" is now shown on the steep southern face of the valley or ravine of Hinnom. It was believed in the middle ages that the soil of this place had the power of rapidly consuming bodies buried in it, and in consequence of this, or of the sanctity of the spot, great quantities of the earth were taken away.