Archeologists engaged in excavations at the Byzantine port quarter Yenikapı on the European side of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, seem to have struck upon some artifacts resembling modern day notebooks.
According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, archeologists came along a wooden notebook in the remains of a Byzantine ship, which has been the focus of the excavations during the recent years.
“We found something resembling today’s notebooks. It’s made out of wood and can open like a regular notebook. It also features some pages on which notes could be taken by using wax,” Professor Ufuk Kocabas told the newspaper.
Turkish archeologists were planning to create a precise replica of the excavated ship, but the recent findings seem to have shifted the priorities, hence attracting the attention of archeological researchers all over the world.
It is estimated that the ship, three-fourths of which are in good shape, was built around the 9th century AD and was used as a merchant ship transporting goods from the Crimean Peninsula. The notebook was discovered along with several other items in an area of the ship believed to be the resting quarters of the ship’s crew and captain.
The neighborhood Yenikapı was used between the 5th and the 10th century by Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I as a commercial port, and was an alternative to Constantinople’s traditional berths situated along the inlet of the Golden Horn. The archeological site located there has become of the largest investigations in Europe because of the size, the number of the shipwrecks found since the initial discovery and the large number of associated artifacts.
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