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A visit to Vindolanda
We know a great deal about Hadrian's Wall due to the
Vindolanda tablets. These are letters written on wooden bases and wax tablets.
The first of these was unearthed in 1973 and since then, more of these tablets have surfaced, and the search is still going on to this day. So far over 2,000 items of Roman writings have been discovered. Who knows what will be uncovered in the future.
The greatest recent find was in 1993, when another 200 letters were recovered from a Roman rubbish dump. The Romans would burn their rubbish, but these letters survived the fire. Not all are letters, however. Many are actual military records and accounts from the forts at the site.
The reason the tablets survived so remarkably well over the years is due to the manner in which they were buried, either by accident or design. They were mixed in with scraps of food and being underground, were subject to a moist atmosphere.
This did cause the tablets to discolour, but it did preserve them to a level that archaeologists could restore them to a level where the writing could be read.
Archaeologists and hand writing experts examined the letters and determined they written in a style of Latin universal throughout the empire.
Much of the handwriting on the letters differs in sections. This shows that many of them were dictated in stages and written by different people who were copying the spoken words of their master.
Most of the writings are very similar to those we write today. Letters to families back home. Requests to send items.
General gossip. It's all there !
These are the CLUES for a crossword puzzle
WORK out what the answers are
People who dig up the past ( 13 letters)
You put it in a bin and it's what the writing tablets were put out with (7 letters)
The language of the empire (5 letters)
Being underground caused the tablets to do this (9)
The name of the fort where the tablets were found (10)
Who built the wall (7 letters)
To do with the army and the kind of records that were found (8 letters)
Tablets and candles are made of this (3 letters)
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