Writing Tablets
Hand-held computers are the modern pocket note books, but 600 years ago people jotted down their thoughts and ideas on tablets, a bit like small blackboards which were covered with wax.
Words could be written into the hard beeswax with a metal point (called a stylus).
Eight wax tablets inside a leather cover were found in wet soils in a medieval yard in York. Inside the cover there was also an iron stylus or pen.
It was very difficult to get the tablets apart as they had been stuck together for so long. The conservators had to be very careful but it was worth the effort.
In the end we were able to read the writing, part of which is in an old type of English (called Middle English) and part is in Latin. The writing turned out to be a set of numbers, a law document and a love poem!
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