Belgium
More general subjects:
Atuatuca Tungrorum: A brief introduction
The Roman town of Tongeren Atuatuca Tungrorum was founded c. 10 bc as the civitas capital of the Tungri. The early Roman phase of development of the settlement (c. 10 bc–ad 69/70) began with the construction of Wohnstallhäuser two-aisled features combining a domestic space and a stable under the same roof. These constructions perpetuate the tradition of building and living from the pre-Roman Iron Age and reveal that the first generations of urban dwellers were members of the indigenous society. Even before the middle of the 1st century however the native Wohnstallhäuser were replaced by a more Romanised house type that was still raised with wood and clay. A major city fire linked to the Batavian Revolt of 69–70 put an end to this early development. The Middle Roman period (last quarter of the 1st century 2nd and 3rd centuries) was characterised by the large scale introduction of stone building materials for both private housing and public monuments. Examples are the large temple on the northern edge of the town and the town wall dating to the second half of the 2nd century. There is nonetheless evidence of a continued and extensive use of wood and clay. Roman Tongeren was initially thought to be a consumer city. Archaeological excavations in recent decades have revealed not only evidence of consumption but of production based on waste associated with various crafts throughout almost all the urban area. The town burned down twice during this period. The first fire took place in the second half of the 2nd century followed by another in the second half of the 3rd century. The town in the Late Roman period (4th and first half of the 5th century) was not only a civitas capital but also a key military stronghold. A new town wall was raised to defend the highest part of the settlement and there is evidence of the existence of several military units of Tungri. Around the middle of the 4th century Tongeren also served as a bishopric. The town remained inhabited until the second third of the 5th century. Wooden writing tablets the subject of this publication are not the only indicators that the town’s residents could read and write to a lesser or greater extent. First of all there are inscriptions on important buildings and burial monuments and brief descriptions of scenes depicted by wall paintings. There are likewise inscriptions on coins that circulated frequently among provincial Roman society. Texts painted or scratched on potsherds or metal ware also reveal their owner content weight or price. Finally there are the remains of writing materials that occasionally come to light during excavations. Hence those inhabitants who did not possess a minimum of literacy probably found it difficult to fully function in society.
General interpretations. The contribution of the Tongeren tablets to knowledge of the institutions of the civitas/municipium Tungrorum and a problem statement concerning the Romanisation and the Latinisation of the city and its region
The Tongeren tablets are of considerable interest to the history of the civitas/municipium Tungrorum and its capital Tongeren. They make it possible to address a whole range of institutional aspects and they yield original information on the degree of Romanisation of both administrative and religious practices. They likewise cast light on the existence and activity of lictors the function of decemvir the presence of veterans and the ritual of vows as well as offering a wealth of anthroponyms that significantly enrich our knowledge of the city’s onomastics.
Imaging incised stylus text marks on the Roman wooden writing tablets of Tongeren using Multi-Light Reflectance technology
Twelve Gallo-Roman wooden tablets incised with texts from Tongeren were subjected to the method of Multi-Light Reflectance imaging to record and enhance their readability. Each of the sides of the fragments was recorded with a White Light Microdome a method that casts lights on their surfaces from 228 different angles ranging from perpendicular to oblique and raking over 360°. The processed dataset allows an interactive inspection of the incised features by manipulating the virtual light sources and activating specific appropriate visual styles in an open-sourced browserbased viewer. Apart from the incised text marks the method likewise serves to develop a dynamic record of the wooden tablets themselves (medium) and their state of preservation at the moment of the digitisation. The final results are made available by means of a IIIF implementation bearing a unique digital ID guaranteeing their long-term preservation.
To write and read, count and record, certify and attest: The multiple functions of tablets in Greek and Roman Antiquity
The intention of this chapter is to briefly review the multiple and important functions of writing tablets (tabulae ceratae) in Greek and Roman Antiquity by comparing different sources and documents: literature and vocabulary iconography and archaeological finds (depending on conditions of preservation). It appears that wood tablets were an essential writing medium not only in everyday life but for the administration law justice and army. Moreover the symbolism attached to them bolsters the notion that writing was both a practice and a social act. This study also highlights the similarities and differences between Greek and Roman uses and representations of wax tablets and concludes with the description of a real obsession in Roman times: the question of ‘fake’ texts and new official means of securing legal tablets. The appendix to this article lists a few corpora of written Greek and Roman tablets and useful databases.
Wood use, production of writing tablets, and some associated finds
This study identified the wood species of the writing tablets other artefacts (styli mouldings etc.) and a large number of woodworking debris (chips) in Roman Tongeren. The results reveal that silver fir (Abies alba) a tree exotic to northwestern Europe was the wood of preference for the production of writing tablets. The association of the remains of writing tablets with fragments of casks and numerous wooden chips – also for the most part silver fir – strongly points to a local production of writing tablets in Tongeren based on the recycling of the wood from imported casks.
Radiocarbon dating of the wooden tablets
This study concerns the <sup>14</sup>C analyses conducted on contaminated wood samples of Roman writing tablets from Tongeren. The contamination stems from the product (paraffin) applied to their conservation in the 1930s. A special pretreatment was developed to remove the contaminant in order to obtain reliable datings. The final aim was to refine the chronology of the Roman wooden tablets.
A painting of an aristocrat from Roman Tongeren carrying writing tablets
The excavation of a Roman domus under the Basilica of Tongeren led to the discovery of an exceptional wall-painting (in a fragmentary state). Located towards the bottom of the wall this painting depicts a male carrying a writing tablet. His beard and hairstyle follow trends typical of the Antonine period. This realistic image reflects the socio-cultural status of the dominus who must have formed part of the local elite and depicts a genre scene that was probably representative of his profession.
The Writing Tablets of Roman Tongeren (Belgium)
And Associated Wooden Finds
Roman wooden writing tablets known in Latin as tabulae ceratae have been found by archaeologists in various locations around the former capital of the civitas/municipium Tungrorum or Roman Tongeren (now the Belgian city of Tongeren-Borgloon). These rare and delicate finds are remarkable not only due to the excellent state of their preservation but also because they are inscribed with the remnants of texts once etched into an overlying wax layer that can to the discerning eye still be deciphered. The tablets not only provide concrete information about religious judicial and administrative practices but they also enhance our understanding of the complex processes of Romanisation and Latinisation in the northwestern civitates and municipia of the Roman Empire.
Unearthed in the first half of the twentieth century with a second group discovered in 2013 the Roman tablets housed in the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren-Borgloon and in the city’s municipal heritage depository became the object of an in-depth study by an international team of specialists piloted by the Gallo-Roman Museum. It is the results of this project that are presented here in this volume for the first time. The painstaking process of deciphering and interpreting the script marks and text fragments is explored via analysis of palaeography philology and onomastics along with key scientific techniques such as wax analysis wood species identification and script visualisation by Multi-Light Reflectance Imaging. Rich detail is also provided about other associated wooden finds that shed light on how and where the tablets were produced.
The result is a beautifully illustrated and insightful volume that introduces the lost world of Roman Tongeren and its writing tablets to professionals and the general public alike.
The texts of the Tongeren tablets and their significance
This chapter delves into the methods and problems of deciphering the texts and the format of the writing tablets unearthed at the sites of Broekberg and Beukenbergweg. Deciphering the texts was carried out by conventional means using a magnifying glass binoculars and oblique light. High-resolution image files characterised by oblique light animation carried out at KU Leuven in a Microdome were likewise used to help decipher the texts. The problems inherent to this task mainly stem from the fact that the texts themselves were unevenly carved through the wax coating into the underlying wooden surfaces yielding incomplete and patchy letters and passages. Likewise writing errors were also often only superficially corrected and did not penetrate the wood thus rendering them impossible to view. As a rule strokes of letters running in the direction of the wood grain are also more difficult to observe than those that run against them. Furthermore the superimposition of different texts (palimpsest) due to tablet reuse also complicates their differentiation. It is also noteworthy that the finds from Broekberg follow a uniform layout. Most are broken in half probably rendering them unusable as legal documents. They originally formed part of triptychs and were initially presumably housed in a public archive. The forms of their letters are characteristic of the Imperial Period (1st–3rd century ad). The tablets from Beukenbergweg were discovered in a well that served as a rubbish dump in the early 3rd century ad.
One tablet (TONN-13-1724.08)1 offers the terminus post quem of ad 207. The majority of the tablets from Beukenbergweg contrary to those of Broekberg did not form part of the triptychs and those bearing script marks are mostly individual tablets inscribed on one face.
The Roman wooden writing tablets of Tongeren: Contextualising the finds
Archaeological work at Broekberg (Tongeren) unearthed Roman wooden writing tablets on four occasions between 1934 and 1937 from what is believed to have been an area that served as a large Roman waste dump from c. ad 50 to c. ad 150/160. Although the tablets initially drew the attention from both researchers and the public they gradually fell into oblivion probably due to the absence or illegibility of the writing marks. Eighty years after the first finds another assemblage of about twenty fragments came to light during the excavation of a Roman well/cesspit at the nearby site of Beukenbergweg. Once again their discovery almost went unnoticed probably due to the absence of any writing marks.
Another ten years passed before these two assemblages finally became the subject of a thorough interdisciplinary ‘tablet-project’. This contribution assesses their archaeological contexts based on unpublished and published field notes sketches drawings observations inventories and excavation reports. Moreover investigations at Broekberg were up to 2016 monitored to gain supplementary archaeological information.
This assessment coincides with earlier interpretations of the archaeological stratigraphy of the sites of Broekberg in that the area once served as a vast Roman waste dump. An evaluation of its timeframe by means of a comprehensive study of the finds was beyond the objectives of this study. However the connection between the peak and the end of dumping with two well-known events namely the Batavian destruction of Tongeren and the construction of the first Roman town wall definitely merits further investigation.
A final point worth highlighting is that this study questions the connection of the finds assemblage in the well at Beukenbergweg with a Flavian pottery workshop. A review of these finds has led to an alternative dating of the deposition of the assemblage towards the end of the 2nd century ad.
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry characterisation of wax residues in wooden Roman writing tablets
This chapter presents the results of a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of samples of wax present on the surface of the Roman wooden writing tablets to determine if they were remains of Roman beeswax. The findings however indicate the samples to be paraffin wax a material dating to the 1930s that was probably used for their preservation.