Bronze Stylus Unearthed at Assos

ÇANAKKALE PROVINCE, TURKEY—An 1,800-year-old stylus has been unearthed in the ancient city of Assos in northwestern Turkey, according to a report in Daily Sabah. Nurettin Arslan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University said the bronze writing implement is pointed on one end and has a flat edge on the other. “The flat part at the back side of the stylus was used to make corrections,” Arslan explained. Merchants and the wealthy would have kept their records on wax tablets, while students who were less well-off may have practiced writing on sand or ceramic floors. Writing tools were also made of bone during this period, Arslan said. For more on archaeology in Turkey, go to “Let a Turtle Be Your Psychopomp.”