« previous post | next post » Includes exquisite photographs of the wood and wax booklet bound in leather with floral embossing. Archaeologists working for the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) had a good feeling when they excavated five medieval latrines in the German city of Paderborn. Even so, what they uncovered from the dank chambers astonished them: an 800-year-old, pocket-size notebook containing ten pages in near-perfect condition. The booklet is made of wood and wax and bound in a leather cover embossed with lilies, which signified purity in the medieval era, Richard Whiddington reports for Artnet . The binding was tight enough to protect the inner pages from the surrounding contaminants over the centuries. When LWL conservators opened it up, they found legible writing. The biggest challenge for transcribers will be in making out the words themselves.…