stylus

MAC GIR-042140

Object type stylus

Culture/period

Materials bone

Technique polishing

Mint

Production date -199 / -100

Seu Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona

Current location MASPG

Archaeological site Pla de l'Horta

Township Sarrià de Ter (Gironès)

Dimensions 127 x 7 (Ø màx.) mm

Description

Roman stylus from the second century BC found at the Pla de l'Horta site (Sarrià de Ter, Gironès). Styli like this were used to write on wax tablets called “tabellae ceratae”, wooden tablets with a frame and with a layer of wax inside as a writing surface. Several tablets joined by strings or rings formed notebooks (leaflets, leaflets ...) similar to the current ones. Bone styli were made on a lathe. They have a truncated or bit-truncated conical shape, with a pointed end, to write and the other end with a ball or flat surface, to erase. These types of writing instruments were used since a very early time and were manufactured with various materials such as reeds, bone or iron. Even today we use a kind of stylus for electronic appliances with touch screens on mobile devices and consoles, which remind us of this old writing instrument.

Omeka ID 3240