Writing

People in the long sixth century wrote on a variety of surfaces: clay tablets, waxed wooden or ivory tablets (“writing boards”), papyrus, skins, and scraps of limestone or pottery (ostraka). In Italy we hear about writing on long pieces of linen cloth. The tradition of laying out the writing surface with leadpoint is attested from the 2nd century BCE onwards:

• Romano, F.P., Puglia, E., Caliri, C. et al. (2023) “Layout of ancient Greek papyri through lead-drawn ruling lines revealed by Macro X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging.” Sci Rep 13, 6582 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33242-8

On writing boards see:

• Robert Payton, “The Ulu Burun Writing-Board Set.” Anatolian Studies, Vol. 41 (1991), pp. 99-106
• Margaret Howard, “Technical Description of the Ivory Writing-Boards from Nimrud.” Iraq, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1955), pp. 14-20 and D. J. Wiseman, “Assyrian Writing-Boards.” Iraq, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring, 1955), pp. 3-13
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Accession Number: 54.117.12a, b (before 705 BCE)
• The Carlisle Millennium Project, Vol. 2 ch. 19 fig. 488
• British Library, Additional MS. 34186 (2nd century CE) catalogue and photos
• British Library, Additional MS. 33270 (3rd century CE) not digitalized
• the Andrews Diptych, Victoria and Albert Museum A.47&A-1926 (5th-7th century? 9th century?) https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O172039/scenes-of-the-life-of-writing-tablet-unknown/
• Michelle P. Brown, “The Role of the Wax Tablet in Medieval Literacy: A Reconsideration in Light of a Recent Find from York.” The British Library Journal Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 1-16 https://www.jstor.org/stable/42554375
• Steven J. Allen, “Wooden Writing Tablets from 12-18 Swinegate, York (YORYM: 1989.28): An Insight Report,” York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research, 2016
• a set of six in the Victoria and Albert Museum 804E-1891 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O172039/scenes-of-the-life-of-writing-tablet-unknown/
• Keep Taking the Tablets, 8 May 2019 https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2019/05/keep-taking-the-wax-tablets.html
• Randy Asplund, Waxed Tablets and Stylus: How to Make and Use Them (2012) http://www.randyasplund.com/pages/article/waxedtabletstylus.html
• Will McLean, “Waxed Tablets,” A Commonplace Book 28 June 2014 https://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2014/06/wax-tablets.html

I have not seen (or proofread the citations to):

• Elisabeth Lalou, “Les tablettes de cire medievales,” Bibliotheque de l’école des Chartes, cxlvii (1989), pp. 123-140 https://www.persee.fr/doc/bec_0373-6237_1989_num_147_1_450532
• Elisabeth Lalou (ed.), Les tablettes à écrire, de l’antiquité à l’époque moderne: Actes du colloque international du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, Institut de France, 10-11 octobre 1990 {Turnhout, 1992);
• Ernst Moser, Hermann Kühn, “Wachs als Beschreib- und Siegelstoff. Wachsschreibtafeln und ihre Verwendung,” in Reinhard Büll (ed.), Vom Wachs: Hoechster Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Wachse (Frankfurt, 1968), pp. 785-894. Reprinted as Das große Buch vom Wachs (Munich, 1977)

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