Archaeologists Recover Medieval Merchant Notebook From 14th-Century German Latrine

Archaeologists discovered a leather, wood and wax notebook inside a 14th-century latrine in North Rhine-Westphalia. The find is the only complete book of its kind recovered in the region. The notebook is now undergoing restoration at the German municipal organisation Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe in Münster.

LWL archaeologist Barbara Rüschoff-Parzinger said the latrine yielded the only such find in all of NRW.

The notebook consists of ten pages, eight of them double-sided, and was found tied inside a small leather cover. LWL restorer Susanne Bretzel said the object was packed in a wet lump of earth and still carried an unpleasant smell after centuries underground.

The leather cover remained in good condition, partly because of local soil and humidity. Bretzel said the wood had not warped and the wax writing surface stayed intact.

Preliminary analysis indicates the notebook belonged to a merchant from Paderborn. City archaeologist Sveva Gai said merchants were among the few people who could read and write in the Middle Ages. The Latin text and italic script point to the 13th or 14th century. Gai noted that the embossed lily pattern on the cover suggests an upscale item.

Researchers plan to examine the wood and wax with scientific methods.

They also intend to study the notebook alongside other objects recovered from the same latrine, including fragments of silk fabric that may have served as toilet paper. Archival research may identify the plot once the latrine is linked to a specific address. Transcription of the text is expected to take additional time.