Birch bark document
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A Birch bark document is a document written on pieces of birch bark. Such documents existed in several cultures.
Russian culture
Russian birch bark writings (Russian: , berestyanáya grámota) are dated to 11th — 15th centuries.
The first one was found on July 26, 1951 by an expedition led by Artemiy Artsikhovsky during excavations in Novgorod in a layer dated to the 14th-15th century junction. Since then the number of finds is close to 1,000 in several other historical Russian and other East Slavic towns: Staraya Russa, Smolensk, Torzhok, Pskov, Tver, Moscow, Ryazan, Zvenigorod Volynsky (Ukraine), Vitsebsk (Belarus), Mstislavl (Belarus). These findings considerably changed the understanding of the cultural level of East Slavs of these times.
About a hundred styluses have also been found, mostly made of iron, some of bone or bronze.
Most of the birch bark documents are ordinary letters by various people written in what is called Old Novgorod dialect, most probably the vernacular. The letters are of a personal or business character. A few documents are written in Old Church Slavonic. In 2003 it was announced that a birch bark with a part of a known work of Cyril of Turaw had been found in Torzhok.
The late discovery, as well as the state of preservation, of the bark is explained by deep culture layer in Novgorod (down to 8 meters (25 feet)) and heavy waterlogged clay soil which prevented the access of oxygen. Serious excavations in Novgorod started only in 1932, although some attempts had been made in the 19th century.
The existence of birch bark books was mentioned in some old East Slavic manuscripts.
Oldest Finnic language text
Document number 292 from the Novgorod excavations found in 1957 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century.
The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, a dialect of the Karelian language. [link]
- For full text see Birch bark letter no. 292
India
Some Gandharan Buddhist texts have been found written on birch bark and preserved in clay jars.See also
- See the Old Novgorod dialect article for samples of some texts
References
- Yanin, Valentin L. (Feb 1990). "The Archaeology of Novgorod". Scientific American, p.84. Covers, History, "Kremlin of Novgorod", "Novgorod Museum of History", preservation dynamics, and the production of 'Birch bark documents'. Article contains, examples of Birch bark documents, styluses, and photographs.
External links
The University of Chicago [Slavic Department] has a [page] with a number of photographs of Birch bark documents and Old Novgorodian artifacts.
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