The Vindolanda writing tablets are found

In 1973 the archaeologist Robin Birley found thin slivers of wood covered in ink handwriting in a waterlogged, airless layer of the Roman fort of Vindolanda, just south of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland. Written about 90 to 120 AD, over 1,700 tablets have been recovered. They include army records, supply lists, a request for beer and socks, and a birthday party invitation from Claudia Severa to Sulpicia Lepidina, the earliest known writing in Latin by a woman. The tablets give a unique glimpse of the everyday life of soldiers and families at the edge of the empire, and are the oldest handwritten documents found in Britain.

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