700-year-old ‘Etch A Sketch’ found preserved in a medieval toilet

700-year-old ‘Etch A Sketch’ found preserved in a medieval toilet

700-year-old ‘Etch A Sketch’ found preserved in a medieval toilet 6 Minutes Read 1106 Words EN Premium HISTORY & CULTURE Protected by a sealed leather pouch, this 10-page notebook still contains legible Latin inscriptions and intact wax. Excavators in Germany found a rare, reusable wax journal in a sealed, foul-smelling medieval latrine. LWL-Archaeology for Westphalia/E. Daood By Taylor Mitchell Brown Published July 8, 2026 Sometime between the13th and 14th centuries, a busy young person entered a medieval toilet stall, possibly with something on their mind. They may have sat down hastily, perhaps withdrawing a small journal from their pocket or belt to scribble some notes before putting it back in a pouch. Then, it appears the items somehow escaped their clutches and plunged into the hole below, seemingly lost forever. That is, until earlier this year—more than 700 years later—when researchers excavating a long-buried latrine in Paderborn, Germany, announced they had discovered the journal . “T…