Archaeologists Uncover 1,200-Year-Old 'Tablet' in Shipwreck

It's certainly not a "tablet" in the technological sense, but what Turkish archaeologists recently discovered has garnered quite a bit of attention.

A 1,200-year-old wooden object is being heralded as an old-school equivalent of a modern-day iPad -- a tablet that apparently doubled as a notebook and a useful tool, according to Discovery News.

Found in a sunken ship in the Yenikapi area of Istanbul, the object, which is being dubbed by Discovery as a "Byzantine iPad," was an invention that likely belonged to the vessel's captain.

It dates back to the 9th century A.D.

The object is the size of a 7-inch tablet and is thin, offering wax-covered frames that allowed for writing and note-taking.

The tablet was likely used to assess the value of items being transported on the ship. Weights could also be inserted into the tool to create an assail balance, which was used to measure precious metals.  

"When you draw the sliding part, there are small weights used as an assay balance," Instanbul University's Ufuk Kocabaş Yenikapi told Hurriyet Daily News.

Read more about the discovery here.

(H/T: Discovery)