The Albertini Tablets (french: Tablettes Albertini) are a set of 33 (or 34) legal documents in

Latin cursive Roman cursive (or Latin cursive) is a form of handwriting (or a script) used in ancient Rome and to some extent into the Middle Ages. It is customarily divided into old (or ancient) cursive and new cursive. Old Roman cursive Old Roman curs ...

written in ink on 45

cedarwood Cedar is part of the English common name of many trees and other plants, particularly those of the genus ''Cedrus''. Some botanical authorities consider the Old-World ''Cedrus'' the only "true cedars". Many other species worldwide with similarl ...

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 ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

–

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

border, just south of ancient

Theveste Theveste was a Roman colony situated in the present Tébessa, Algeria. History In 146 BC, the Romans conquered the region, where existed an old city called " Tbessa". Theveste was founded by the Romans in 75 AD near an old Berber village located ...

and beyond the southern frontier of the Vandal Kingdom. They are all dated by the

regnal year A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...

s of the Vandal king

Gunthamund Gunthamund (c. 450–496), King of the Vandals and Alans (484-496) was the third king of the north African Vandal Kingdom. He succeeded his unpopular uncle Huneric, and for that reason alone, enjoyed a rather successful reign. Gunthamund was the ...

.Andrew H. Merrills
"Albertini Tablets"
''

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity The ''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'' (ODLA) is the first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary reference work covering culture, history, religion, and life in Late Antiquity. This was the period in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near Eas ...

'' (Oxford University Press, 2018), vol. 1, pp. 42–43.R. Bruce Hitchner
"Albertini Tablets"
''

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (ODB) is a three-volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,000 entries, it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzant ...

'' (Oxford University Press, 1991).Simon Corcoran
"Tablettes Albertini"
''The Encyclopedia of Ancient History'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) pp. 6499–6500. They are named for

Eugène Albertini Eugène Albertini (2 October 1880 – 15 February 1941) was a 20th-century French teacher in Latin literature, a historian of ancient Rome, especially for North Africa and an . He was a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres ...

, who edited the first transcription.Douglas Boin, ''A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018), pp. 183–184. The tablets are presently conserved at the

National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art (' in French) is an art museum in Algiers, Algeria. History According to Museum with No Frontiers, the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. ...

in Algiers, Algeria. The place where the documents were found is

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

n pre-desert at the limit of the cultivable zone and of permanent human settlement. The tablets show that in the Vandal period

arboriculture Arboriculture () is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their envir ...

(including of

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

) and floodwater irrigation were practised in the area. Besides agriculture, the tablets reveal the legal, social and economic practices in and on the fringes of the Vandal Kingdom. They also provide useful information about

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in the ...

grammar and phonetics.

References

{{reflist Vandal Kingdom 490s 1928 archaeological discoveries