The Albertini Tablets ( French: Tablettes Albertini) are a set of 33 (or 34) legal documents in Latin cursive written in ink on 45 cedarwood tablets from the years 493–496. They were discovered in 1928 by local miners in a cache on the estate of Jabal Mrata near the Algeria– Tunisia border, just south of ancient Theveste and beyond the southern frontier of the Vandal Kingdom. [1] [2] They are all dated by the regnal years of the Vandal king Gunthamund. [3] [4] [5] They are named for Eugène Albertini, who edited the first transcription. [6] The tablets are presently conserved at the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art in Algiers, Algeria.
The place where the documents were found is Saharan pre-desert at the limit of the cultivable zone and of permanent human settlement. [5] The tablets show that in the Vandal period arboriculture (including of olive) and floodwater irrigation were practised in the area. [4] Besides agriculture, the tablets reveal the legal, social and economic practices in and on the fringes of the Vandal Kingdom. [5] They also provide useful information about Late Latin grammar and phonetics. [4]
The specific location of the estate in the Djebel Mrata is unknown, but Matigny plausibly suggests that the estates were located along Oued el-Horchane
The Albertini Tablets ( French: Tablettes Albertini) are a set of 33 (or 34) legal documents in Latin cursive written in ink on 45 cedarwood tablets from the years 493–496. They were discovered in 1928 by local miners in a cache on the estate of Jabal Mrata near the Algeria– Tunisia border, just south of ancient Theveste and beyond the southern frontier of the Vandal Kingdom. [1] [2] They are all dated by the regnal years of the Vandal king Gunthamund. [3] [4] [5] They are named for Eugène Albertini, who edited the first transcription. [6] The tablets are presently conserved at the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art in Algiers, Algeria.
The place where the documents were found is Saharan pre-desert at the limit of the cultivable zone and of permanent human settlement. [5] The tablets show that in the Vandal period arboriculture (including of olive) and floodwater irrigation were practised in the area. [4] Besides agriculture, the tablets reveal the legal, social and economic practices in and on the fringes of the Vandal Kingdom. [5] They also provide useful information about Late Latin grammar and phonetics. [4]
The specific location of the estate in the Djebel Mrata is unknown, but Matigny plausibly suggests that the estates were located along Oued el-Horchane