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Technical Description of the Ivory Writing-Boards from Nimrud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Margaret Howard
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Extract

The tablets are approximately 33·8 cms. in length and 15·6 cms. in width, including the margins which are raised 3 mm. to allow for some clearance of the waxed surface, which was thus protected from abrasion when the boards were closed. Both faces of the boards within the margins were hatched with criss-cross lines to make a gripping surface for the wax on which the inscription would be written. The bees-wax with which the boards were coated was mixed with sulphide of arsenic, or orpiment, which rendered it sufficiently fluid to spread easily over the surface and more plastic for writing.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , Spring 1955 , pp. 14 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1955

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References

page 14 note 1 See P. 5.

page 15 note 1 Copied by Mr. D. J. Wiseman. Where identified these appear to be Aramaic and Phoenician alphabetic signs or numerals used for marking joins or adjacent parts, I. B.M. 131961. 2. B.M.131961.and C. (These letters mark fragments at present in the Institute of Archaeology, University of London). 3. B.M. 131962, 131958, C. 4. B.M. 131963. 5. B.M. 131960. 6. B.M. 131957 and A. 7. B.M. 131959. 8. B.M. 131957. 9. B.M. 131957 and H. 10. B.M. 131955. 11. B. 12. D. 13. E. 14. F. 15. G. 16. I.

page 16 note 1 On the other hand similar incisions on wooden boards found at Nimrud are in groups of three, probably cut with a claw chisel. It is possible that the marks on the ivory tablets were made with a similar implement.

page 19 note 3 Baibarini Tomb, Praenesti (C. D. Curtis, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome v. pl. 34).

page 20 note 1 It must be remembered that slight variations occur in the measurements of individual boards which have been reconstructed from many fragments. The figures in the table are to the nearest millimetre.