Medieval Wax Notebook Found in Paderborn Latrine Offers Rare Glimpse of Daily Life
A remarkably preserved wax notebook has emerged from a medieval latrine in Paderborn, central Germany, giving archaeologists an unusually intimate look at how people recorded business and thought in the 13th to late 14th century. The object, made of leather, wood, and wax, was uncovered during excavations carried out ahead of the construction of a municipal administrative building.
Researchers believe the notebook likely belonged to a merchant. Eight of its 10 pages are coated on both sides with wax, a practical system that allowed the owner to write, erase, and reuse the surface with a stylus. The text is Latin, written in a single hand in a cursive style, and the team is now transcribing it in hopes of learning more about the notebook’s contents and its owner.
The preservation is what makes the find especially striking. Susanne Bretzel, a conservator with Archaeology for Westphalia (LWL), said the notebook required only exterior cleaning because the inner pages were so tightly bound that no dirt reached them. She added that the wood had not warped, leaving the wax intact and the writing easy to read.
Researchers are also examining the leather binding, which is decorated with rows of embossed lilies, a motif associated with purity and royalty in the Middle Ages. That detail may help clarify the notebook’s status, while newer archaeological technologies could reveal older traces beneath the most recent writing.
The latrine itself yielded a broader picture of medieval domestic life. Alongside the notebook, archaeologists found barrels, a knife, Medieval pottery, basketry, and several pieces of silk fabric torn into rectangular strips that may have been used as toilet paper.
The site in question once sat between an abbey and a main square, in a district inhabited by upper middle class residents. Sveva Gai, head archaeologist at LWL, said that if the latrine can be tied to a specific plot of land, archival research may eventually identify the residents and, in the best case, connect the wax tablet to a named individual.
For now, the notebook remains a rare survival: a working object, discarded by accident, that has outlasted the world that made it.
