Text Technology: Wax Tablets
Case study: medieval Wax Tablets
A form of writing material which had a continuous existence from antiquity right through the middle ages was the waxed tablet. A small frame of wood was filled with wax, which could be written on with a stylus. Because the writing could be erased and the tablet re-used, they were used as notebooks for various ephemeral writing purposes.
The diptych, or waxed tablet, was an indispensible tool of the Western scholar for thousands of years. At its simplest, a waxed tablet is a piece of wood with a wax-filled recess; using a metal-tipped implement, one writes on the tablet by scratching the surface of the wax, which is darkened for greater contrast. In effect, it is a renewable scratch pad.
Tablets can be seen on red- and black-figure Attic vases from the Classical period in Greece, and their use as everyday writing implements was continuous all over Europe until at least the late fifteenth century. The waxed tablet was used in correspondence, in teaching, as official or legal records, as a workspace for drafting speeches or other writings, as a platform for working mathematical proofs, and no doubt for all sorts of more ephemeral purposes. Examples exist of wax tablets executed in ivory, whalebone, and many types of wood, in sizes ranging from less than 2"x3" to the size of a modern notebook.
-McKenny Hughes
The diptych, or waxed tablet, was an indispensible tool of the Western scholar for thousands of years. At its simplest, a waxed tablet is a piece of wood with a wax-filled recess; using a metal-tipped implement, one writes on the tablet by scratching the surface of the wax, which is darkened for greater contrast. In effect, it is a renewable scratch pad.
Tablets can be seen on red- and black-figure Attic vases from the Classical period in Greece, and their use as everyday writing implements was continuous all over Europe until at least the late fifteenth century. The waxed tablet was used in correspondence, in teaching, as official or legal records, as a workspace for drafting speeches or other writings, as a platform for working mathematical proofs, and no doubt for all sorts of more ephemeral purposes. Examples exist of wax tablets executed in ivory, whalebone, and many types of wood, in sizes ranging from less than 2"x3" to the size of a modern notebook.
-McKenny Hughes
Bibliography
- http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/forms/waxtablet.htm
- http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/tablets.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE1Z_nf3mmg
- http://www.lib.umich.edu/papyrus-collection/ancient-writing-materials-wax-tablets
Research Questions
1. Describe the basic form of a Wax Tablet
3. List eight Materials and Tools used in making a Wax Tablet
5. What nickname does the video give for the wax tablets? Why?
- A waxed tablet is a piece of wood with a wax-filled recess; using a metal-tipped implement, one writes on the tablet by scratching the surface of the wax, which is darkened for greater contrast. In effect, it is a renewable scratch pad.
- Portable
- Erasable
- Sturdy
- Ephemeral
- Easily erased
- Limited context for use
3. List eight Materials and Tools used in making a Wax Tablet
- Wood
- linseed oil
- Knife
- Wood chisels
- Rag
- Beeswax
- lampblack
- 4. According to the UM website, list three main uses for this text technology.
- Birth Certificates
- Money Account
- Marriage Contract
5. What nickname does the video give for the wax tablets? Why?
- A Medieval PDA System, because it was a portable way to keep records and make notes back in Medieval times.