During excavations of a 1st-century Roman administrative building in Ephesus, archaeologists discovered a lead-bound wax tablet containing a detailed 'logistics ledger'. The document records the arrival of a fleet from the Chera Kingdom (modern-day Kerala) and lists the market prices for high-purity cinnamon, black pepper, and beryl.
Most significantly, the ledger includes a clause for maritime insurance, detailing the payout for goods lost at sea due to monsoonal storms. This provides rare evidence of the sophisticated financial instruments that linked the Roman Empire and the Sanatan-maritime guilds of the Indian coast during the height of the Indo-Roman spice trade.