Moscow archaeologists presented the preliminary results of the field season in Veliky Novgorod dedicated to Birch Bark Day. During the current excavations, nine birch bark manuscripts were found, two of which are complete documents. Thus, the total number of birch bark manuscripts found in this city has exceeded 1246 copies, according to a press release from MSU.
Veliky Novgorod is recognized as a rich site for studying the ancient and medieval history of Rus'. Due to high humidity in the cultural layers, organic materials are well preserved here, including remains of wooden pavements, homesteads, as well as artifacts made of wood, bone, and leather. Birch bark manuscripts hold a special place among these finds, attracting attention every year from both the scientific community and the general public.
For a long time, researchers hypothesized the use of birch bark as a writing material in Rus', based on indirect data from other sources. The Novgorod archaeological expedition was established back in 1932, but the first manuscript was discovered only twenty years later—on July 26, 1951. Since then, July 26 is traditionally celebrated as Birch Bark Day in Novgorod. Over the past seventy-five years, more than 1200 birch bark manuscripts have been found in the city, and this collection continues to grow annually. Furthermore, over one hundred similar artifacts have been found in twelve other settlements, to which Vologda and Ryazan (Pereyaslavl-Ryazan) have recently joined.
In honor of Birch Bark Day, researchers from the MSU Novgorod Archaeological Expedition, collaborating with staff of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve, reported on the initial results of the work conducted in the ancient Russian city in 2026. The work continued at the Troitsky excavation site, located in the Ludin end of medieval Novgorod. Archaeologists studied numerous remains of various structures, including residential log buildings, utility and production facilities, as well as latrines.
During these works, nine birch bark manuscripts were discovered, numbered from 1238 to 1246. Most of them were fragments of various documents, but they are informative and concern debt obligations, tax collection, family matters, and problems with acquiring villages. Only two of the found manuscripts turned out to be complete. One of them (No. 1242) features a demand from Nemir to Pavel to send a messenger to some Goza. In the second document, Lobka's wife asks Pereneg to pass the stove to her brother and invites Pereneg himself, mentioning the presence of about five kopecks. Elena Rybina from MSU explained that interpreting the second letter is a complex task currently being worked on by Academician Alexey Gippius from the Higher School of Economics.
In addition to building remains and birch bark manuscripts, researchers presented information on other finds from the current season, totaling over two and a half thousand items. Among them were three princely seals and about 300 lead seals, which were likely used to seal furs of wild animals. The collection was also supplemented with cavalry and horse gear, including a battle axe, arrowheads, fragments of chainmail, stirrups, and spurs. Archaeologists also extracted 12th-century ornaments, mainly bronze, including a rare pendant from a rasona.
In the 1950s, there was a birch bark manuscript in Veliky Novgorod written in ink that could not be read and was lost for decades. Recently, it was rediscovered in St. Petersburg and successfully deciphered, which is described in detail in the blog 'The Manuscript That Was Found Twice'. Of particular note is the biomolecular analysis of samples taken from four sacrifice pits in Sansinduy. The analysis revealed preserved animal proteins, which are presumed to have been sacrificed about 3000–3200 years ago. Although precise species identification is difficult, the scientists' data indicates that the majority of the detected proteins correspond to the remains of cows or bulls. This information was published in the journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
Russian scientists from the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of Peoples of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences have allegedly found the oldest human remains in Primorye. A fragment of a lower jaw with two teeth was discovered in the entrance area of the Khankayskaya-1 cave, located near the village of Prokhori, in the Spassky district of Primorsky Krai.
According to preliminary estimates by specialists, these remains are about 12 thousand years old, which was confirmed by radiocarbon dating results. Currently, paleogeneticists, according to information from the Russian Academy of Sciences website, are sequencing and analyzing the DNA of this ancient human.
In addition to skeletal remains, researchers also extracted a number of archaeological materials. Among them are small obsidian flakes used to create composite tools. The cave dwellers used green volcanic glass as raw material, the nearest deposits of which are approximately 250 kilometers from the settlement site.
Despite the significance of the ancient remains, such finds are extremely rare in Primorsky Krai due to the specific nature of the local soils. Previously, the earliest finds were considered to be the bones of seven hunter-gatherers from the Chertovy Vrata cave, who lived about 7,700 years ago and, according to DNA data, belonged to the population of ancient northeastern Asians.
Furthermore, researchers analyzed an ancient skeleton found in 2021 in the Treugolnaya cave in Primorye. This skeleton belonged to an elderly woman of Mongoloid appearance with a artificially deformed skull, who died approximately three thousand years ago. DNA analysis showed that this woman is genetically related both to ancient northeastern Asians from the Chertovy Vrata cave, who lived almost eight thousand years ago, and to modern Uljans. This information was published in the journal Archaeology, Ethnography and Anthropology of Eurasia.
