TabulaRasa ERC

🔬In April 2026, the Museo Archeologico di Napoli hosted a research mission by Dr 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐭 and 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐡 𝐄𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐦, devoted to the carbonised 𝐰𝐚𝐱 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 from and . Framed as a collaboration between the TabulaRasa ERC and the 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠’𝐬 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, the mission focused on a deceptively simple question:

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘆𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱?

Ink matters: imaging and analysing ink writing on carbonised Roman wax tablets at the MANN with Olivier Bonnerot and Samaneh Ehteram In April 2026, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples hosted a research mission by Dr Olivier Bonnerot and Samaneh Ehteram, devoted to some of the most fragile and fascinating written objects from the Roman world: the carbonised wax tablets from Pompeii and Herculaneum. Framed as a collaborati...

📍 𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬. 𝐀 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬

From archaeological discoveries to library and museum collections, medieval wax tablets emerge as unearthed objects with complex material lives. The mission also explored the role of portable artefacts, following how certain writing devices were handled, moved, reused, deposited, rediscovered, and preserved over time.

📣 New post at:

Unearthed Objects and the Material Lives of Portable Artefacts. A TabulaRasa mission in Paris and Angers After the Franconian survey carried out in January, TabulaRasa moved to France for a shorter but particularly dense research mission. Between 31 March and 2 April 2026, the work focused on two places and four main witnesses: three artefacts preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris...

TabulaRasa all'EVOA 2026 a Firenze, 17-19 giugno: accorrete numerosi!! 🤩 (ma soprattutto a sentire altri paper, perché su TabulaRasa non imparerete nulla di nuovo... prrrrrtt!!😂😂😂 ) https://www.aiwa.unifi.it/vp-83-evoa-firenze-2026.html (Egitto e Vicino Oriente antichi... anche se vedo che ora dovrebbe cambiare nome in EAOA.... una specie di ululato 😝)

EVOA FIRENZE 2026 | EVOA FIRENZE 2026 | AIWA - Archaeology in Western Asia | SAGAS | UniFI EVOA FIRENZE 2026

🤠🖊️🧮This tablet comes from Jemdet Nasr, the remains of an ancient site in southern (modern Iraq).
Tablets such as this list quantities of different commodities using an early form of the cuneiform script, and the circles and half circles that you can see across the document indicate numerals.
This tablet is known as the ‘field of the EN’. It contains calculations for the areas of five fields.

The scribe added these figures together and divided the grand total into thirds. Two thirds were allocated to a person called the EN, which is Sumerian for 'lord', while the remaining third was divided unevenly among other individuals, including the wife of the EN. It clearly reflects a hierarchical society, with EN as a leading figure.

Nice to have the TabulaRasa/CSMC partnership for the ink analysis of Roman wax tablets at MANN by Olivier Bonnerot & Samaneh Ehteram featured in this video realized by the the newpaper Il Mattino!😊 (From 3:10; for the research mission cf. our blog post https://tabularasa.hypotheses.org/4763 )

Una notte al museo: cosa succede al MANN quando è chiuso Il martedì è il giorno di chiusura al pubblico, ma in realtà quello in cui il MANN lavora di più. Il direttore, Francesco Sirano, accompagna Il Mattino tra l...

📌🔬From 𝟐𝟎 to 𝟐𝟒 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, 𝐃𝐫 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐭 of the 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 (𝐂𝐒𝐌𝐂) 𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 will be in 𝐍𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 to conduct non-desctructive analyses of the 𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐱 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 at the 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 (𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐍), in the frame of a research cooperation between the 𝐂𝐒𝐌𝐂 and the 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭.
We are delighted to announce that in this framework Dr Bonnerot will give a public talk entitled: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐒𝐌𝐂 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬: 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢”

The talk will take place on 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟐𝟎 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, at 𝐚𝐭 𝟒:𝟏𝟓 𝐏𝐌, at 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐚𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 ‘𝐋’𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞’, Palazzo Corigliano, Antisala degli Specchi (4th floor), Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, 80134 Naples.

The hybrid event, organized as part of the activities of the Centro per lo studio e l’edizione dei testi (CESET) at ‘L’Orientale’, will be followed by a discussion chaired by Dr Silvia Pizzimenti, RTD-A in analytical chemistry for the environment and cultural heritage at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’.