S. Bretzel / Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association
Scientists believe the notebook belonged to someone wealthy or well-educated, possibly a Paderborn merchant.
Archaeologists in Germany discovered a remarkably well-preserved medieval notebook inside a leather bag at the bottom of an old latrine.
The discovery was made in the city of Paderborn during construction work on a new building, according to the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL). The researchers excavated five sealed medieval latrineswhose airtight conditions preserved organic materials that would normally have decomposed centuries ago.
Among the finds was what initially appeared to be a simple clod of earth. During cleaning in the laboratory, the conservators realized that it was, in fact, a small leather case containing a writing tablet of wax and wood dated between the 13th and 14th centuries.
The notebook measures approximately 8.6 by 5.5 centimeters and consists of 10 wax-coated wooden pages, used for writing with a stylus. Eight pages are double-sided and two are single-sided. The researchers found several lines of Latin writingalthough the text proved difficult to decipher, as some passages overlap and appear to have been written in different directions.
“As individual words are recognizablebut the transcription will take some time, as some words may have been corrupted by incorrect spellings”, he explains Barbara Rüschoff-Parzingerresponsible for cultural affairs at LWL, in a .
The notebook was kept in a decorative leather pouch embossed with fleur-de-lis, traditionally associated with royalty and divine authority during the Middle Ages. Archaeologists believe the object probably belonged to a wealthy or educated individual.
“One Paderborn merchant may have been the authorwriting down commercial transactions and recording their thoughts”, explains Sveva Gai, an archaeologist from the city. At the time, the level of literacy was limited mainly to religious figures, administrators and wealthy merchants, which places the owner of the notebook among the social elite.
The excavation also revealed barrels, pottery, knives, fragments of baskets and pieces of silk fabrichelping researchers confirm the medieval date of the archaeological site. Some silk fragments were cut into small rectangles, leading experts to speculate that they may have been reused as luxury toilet paper before being discarded in the latrine.
Conservative Susanne Bretzel noted that despite being buried for centuries, the latrine still gave off an unpleasant odor when opened.
Investigators hope that additional analysis and archival research may reveal the identity of the notebook’s owner.
