There were a large number of personal letters, written on thin wooden tablets, by women found in the Roman fort at Vindolanda, near Hadrian's Wall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/ https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/britain/our_top_ten_british_treasures/the_vindolanda_tablets.aspx http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ptop/plain/A29849106 http://www.vindolanda.com/roman-vindolanda/writing-tablets