The Roman Writing Tablets from Vindolanda, 1983, 48 p. -

In this concise brochure, the author illustrates and describes six of the most fascinating tablets and gives an account of their discovery and historical background. One of the most exciting archaeological discoveries of our time was made in the spring of 1973, when the first batch of a collection of over two hundred wooden writing tablets was uncovered at the Roman for of Vindolanda, near Hadrian's Wall. Deposited around AD 100, a decade or two before work began on Hadrian's Wall, the tablets form the oldest group of written documents known from Britain and are consequently of first-rate historical importance. But they also offer us a unique and fascinating insight into life in the Roman army, both from the point of view of senior officers and of more humble soldiers : they contain stock-checks on supplies, personal letters of recommendation, the record of a gift of fifty oysters, and even the description of a parcel from home containing socks, sandals and underpants !