During the summer of 2017 Vindolanda archaeologists enjoyed one of their most successful annual research excavation seasons to date with one remarkable discovery after another coming to light. A small hoard of wafer thin Vindolanda Writing Tablets, many full of ancient cursive script, was quickly followed by a cache of material culture uncovered during the excavation of a pre-Hadrianic cavalry barrack. The finds included complete swords, copper alloy horse gear, more precious writing tablets, leather shoes, bath clogs, combs, dice and two very unusual and distinctive pieces of leather. These two unusual leather objects have ver Read more...

An Exciting New Hoard of Ancient Roman Writing Tablets Unearthed at Vindolanda. On the afternoon of Thursday the 22nd of June, at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland, archaeologists made one of their most important discoveries since 1992. A new hoard of around 25 Roman ink documents, known as the Vindolanda writing tablets (letters, lists and personal correspondence), were discovered lying in the damp and anaerobic earth where they had been discarded towards the end of the 1st century AD. These incredibly rare and fragile wafer-thin pieces of wood are often less than 2mm in thickness and about the size of modern  Read more...