07-11-2010, 08:19 AM
Quote:Funny you say the Tolsum tablet is well known, because it is not. There are only a handful of Dutch people knowing of its existence.That is true; but at least, the Tolsum writing tablet has been in the news over the past two years, there have been expositions about it, and there is a little book - well actually, it's the special issue of the journal of the Frisian Academy, It Beaken (71 [2009]). I think there is a better chance that people remember Tolsum than Vindolanda.
Quote:The context of the find is hazy, there seem to be no drawings of the finds in situ, and the (acclaimed) conservation method by freezing the planks in water is not really a method at all, and probably has damaged the stuff.The amateurs who found it, realized what it was, and did their best to save it. The most shocking detail in the story is that the professional archaeologist of the province (or city?) of Utrecht realized it was important four years ago. For a quarter of a century, the world of science and scholarship just ignored what they had. They will never admit that the concervation method was dangerous, because that will amount to admitting their own mistake.
