La pratique de l'écriture dans les tuileries gallo-romaines

Abstract

Roman earthen building materials (tiles, bricks, tubuli...) bore writings. Texts were written before or after firing. In the first case, graffites were scratched in tileries and were consequently made for the most part by tile-makers. Studies on these documents are more or less developed in European countries. Rhineland and Danubian provinces along the Limes have yielded the largest amount of inscriptions but only one general corpus have been so far published, in Great Britain. The categories of graffites discovered in France are close to those known elsewhere. The graffites related to tile production are being here thoroughly studied. This type of document, from the western provinces, has been classified according to their function in the production line and analyzed in accordance with the material, social and juridical conditions of production. Graffites were traced all along the steps of production : from the appointment of a moulder up to the sale. Apart from the count incisions, most of them were used to identify the work of the moulder in legionary workshops. In an appendix, the catalogue of the graffites from France already published includes 98 documents found in 49 localities. Translation : Isabelle Fauduet