Three small fragments of a wooden stylus tablet found in a Roman timber-lined well on an archaeological excavation at Wickham, Hampshire 2018-2020 by Cotswold Archaeology. The edges display a variety of modern and ancient breaks, suggesting that the artefact was broken when it was deposited. The fragments are formed of radially aligned heartwood of an unknown species and are in excellent condition. Geometric markings are visible on both faces of all three items and they seem to draw parallel diagonal lines. One of the fragments has a double-sided margin running along one edge. This feature, alongside the markings on both faces, describes the middle page of a triptych type tablet.
Stylus tablets are known from Roman Britain and include a large assemblage from the Bloomberg excavations in London as well as examples from outside London. The wooden pages, generally bound together in twos (diptych) or threes (triptych), were originally filled with wax onto which writing was inscribed with a stylus. When full the wax could be smoothed and inscribed again.
