Albertini Tablets facts for kids
The Albertini Tablets are a special collection of 33 (or 34) old legal papers. They were written in Latin cursive (an old style of handwriting) using ink on 45 pieces of cedarwood. These important documents date back to the years 493 to 496.
They were found in 1928 by local miners. The miners discovered them hidden in a secret spot on a piece of land called Jabal Mrata. This area is close to the border between modern-day Algeria and Tunisia, just south of an ancient city called Theveste. At the time these tablets were written, this land was just outside the southern edge of the Vandal Kingdom.
Each tablet is dated by the year of the Vandal king Gunthamund's rule. The tablets are named after Eugène Albertini, who was the first person to carefully read and write down what they said. Today, you can see these tablets at the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art in Algiers, Algeria.
What the Tablets Tell Us
The place where the tablets were found is a dry area, like a desert, but with some land that can be farmed. It's also where people could live permanently.
The Albertini Tablets show us that during the Vandal period, people in this area grew trees, including olive trees. They also used a clever way to water their crops called floodwater irrigation. This meant they used floodwaters to bring water to their fields.
Besides farming, the tablets give us a lot of information about how people lived, traded, and followed rules in and around the Vandal Kingdom. They also teach us about how people spoke and wrote Late Latin (a later form of the Latin language) a long time ago.
See also
In Spanish: Tablillas Albertini para niños
