library
Novgorod: birch bark letters and the Novgorod Codex
1000–1100
attested. Archaeologically attested; dated by tree-rings and stratigraphy.
Waterlogged soil at Novgorod preserved over a thousand birch bark letters, showing everyday lay literacy, and the Novgorod Codex, three wax tablets with Psalms that are the oldest book of the Rus.
Place: Veliky Novgorod · On the map
People
- Artemy Artsikhovsky (found the first birch bark letter, 1951)
Manuscripts made here
Novgorod Codex (wax tablets with Psalms, early 11th c., found 2000)
Kept now: Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod State Museum
Birch bark letters (over 1,000 found; earliest 11th c.)
Kept now: Novgorod State Museum