History and culture: Birch-bark documents found in Novgorod tell the history of Ancient Rus’

13 birch-bark documents of the XII-XIV centuries are found over the last field season during archaeological excavations in Novgorod, and the oldest of them dating back to the end of the XI century can tell scientists new details about the dynamics of the Christianization of Ancient Rus’.

All the documents were found during so-called security excavations, which necessarily take place before the construction. Three of them from Vozdvizhensky, while others from Rogatitsky excavations.

As the leading researcher on the Institute of Slavic Studies of the RAS Alexei Gippius, who deals with the study and reading of the found documents noted – “the findings reflect different genres of birch-bark writing, among which are letters and economic-financial notes, except church texts”.

The first birch-bark document was found in July 1951 by the expedition, which was led by Soviet archaeologist and historian Artemy Artsikovsky. This and other findings made researchers not only have a radical revision of the level of literacy on Novgorod residents, but also opened some of the mysteries of the everyday life of Ancient Rus’.