LECTURE

Novgorod: Archaeology of a Russian Medieval City

Chaired by Andy Pepperdine

Prof. Mark Brisbane

Bournemouth University

8 June 2005

Mark Brisbane is Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Bournemouth University and became involved in the site at medieval town of Novgorod, Russia, in 1989 following initiatives at a World Archaeological conference. In 1994 funding became available to collaborate with Russian archaeologists on a variety of medieval projects through INTAS (The International Association for Collaboration between EU and Former Soviet Union Scientists).

Novgorod is a key site for medieval studies as the artefacts are remarkably well preserved, having been left waterlogged in anaerobic conditions since their deposition. In addition, these archaeological deposits are more than 7 metres thick in places, and contain items of unique interest and value. In 1992 the City of Novgorod was made a World Heritage Site.

It is not known for sure when the town of Novgorod was founded, but chronicles written down in 11^th century refer to a foundation date of AD 862. However, there is no direct archaeological evidence of occupation on the site prior to just after AD 900. It may be that these reports properly refer to the nearby fortified hillfort of Gorodishche, where there is evidence of an important mid-9^th century settlement.

The town is built on clay on five low hills, which give a dominant view of the surrounding flat countryside. As the deposits of waste and detritus slowly built up, the damp conditions ensured that little oxygen penetrated to the older material, thus preserving it better than anywhere else in Europe. The site, covering about 200 hectares, is on the banks of the river Volchov and a few kilometres to the north of Lake Ilmen, providing good access, not just to drinking water, but also trade routes, and from the beginning, there is Viking influence which gives us some idea of the spread of trade at the time. The earliest buildings are all of wood – only official buildings and second phase fortifications were built of more substantial materials, usually stone, and later brick.

The location is on the trade route from the Baltic not only to Smolensk, Kiev and further south along the Dniepr to the Black Sea and Byzantium, but also to the Volga, east and down to the Caspian Sea through territory held by the Khazars. Moscow at the time was a small insignificant place, which did not come to prominence until the 13^th century and did not overtake Novgorod as the primary seat of commerce and power in Russia until the reign of Ivan the Third (the Great) in the late 15^th century.

Silver, in the form of coinage, was imported from the Caspian area, and many silver dirham coins with Arabic inscriptions have been found (the earliest hoard to be discovered in Novgorod itself dates to 907-930). These were exchanged for furs from the surrounding forests, and the traders were often Vikings, or ‘Varangians’ as the Byzantine records call them. Around Novgorod there is a mixture of Viking and Slav material, although it appears that the population from the 7^th/8^th century was predominantly Slav. Later, at the time of the Hanseatic League in the 13^th century, Germans and Gotlanders became established. In AD 988 when Christianity officially came to Russia, the bishop of Kiev commented that the people of Novgorod especially were loath to give up their pagan gods, but even so a bishop was soon established there with its own church in a fortified position.

The town clearly flourished as the state of the roads around the site indicates. These were made of half tree trunks, the flat surfaces uppermost and fitted tightly together. It appears they were renewed on average approximately every 20 years by laying a new surface on top of the old one. But as the older surfaces are often still in good condition, it is likely that the reason for renovation was to keep the level up to that of the accumulating debris over the settlement as a whole. In some areas there are 28 surfaces laid one on another, and this continuous sequence of relatively closely spaced tree remains gives an excellent opportunity to calibrate a dendrochronological calendar for pine and spruce. The earliest surfaces also contained a number of deciduous trees like oak, lime, sycamore and ash, but it appears that the close forests of these trees were over-exploited during the early period (ie the first 200 years or so of settlement).

The Kremlin in the town is on a 12 ha site, and was originally built with an earth rampart and timber palisades dated by dendrochronology to AD 1044. This was later replaced by stone walls, and eventually Ivan the Third built a brick one modelled on the Kremlin in Moscow. A few years ago, a large section of one of these walls fell down to expose the stone rubble interior, but this has now been restored by the local Russian authorities. The outer ramparts date from the 12^th century, and the accompanying stone wall from 1335.

The most intriguing finds are the birch-bark letters, the first of which was found on 26 July 1951, which is now celebrated annually by the local town. Since then nearly 1000 have been discovered, yet only a small fraction of the total area of the site has been investigated (approximately 3%). Although a lot of these are records of contracts and deliveries for trade and tribute collection, they were also used for more personal matters, even a love letter has been found. To prepare the bark, it must first be soaked in water for a time and then dried. The contents of these letters have been invaluable at piecing together the way the inhabitants conducted themselves. Names and forms of address can show the class structure of the town, and the medieval Cyrillic writing has been a source of much linguistic interest.

Writing tablets have also been dug up which would have been covered in wax, and a bone or bronze stylus used to draw the letters. From the look of the scratches that have penetrated through to the wood, these may well have been used by children to practise writing. It thus seems that literacy was wide-spread among the population, and not restricted to the richer elements of the society. There are also examples of practice alphabets and texts written onto birch-bark, almost certainly by children.

One house was about 80 sq m in size, but in the same compound there were a number of other dwellings. The entrances to these were typically about 1 metre off the ground and had a wooden ramp or steps leading up to the door. Inside, there would have been a stove, normally set in the corner of the main living/sleeping room, made of sand and stone on which would have been constructed a fire. There is no sign of any flues in these structures, and the evidence is that fires were very common, so much so, that only the most widespread ones were recorded in the chronicles.

Many other artefacts have also come to light, including combs made from bone and antler, decorative articles of walrus ivory, or occasionally narwhale, and some musical instruments, especially the 3-stringed gudok, somewhat like a fiddle, and the gusli, somewhat like a psaltery, and a few bone pipes with 2 or 3 holes, and a Jew’s harp. Straw hats and birch-bark bags have survived along with leather shoes and bags, largely made from cattle hides.

Based on number of fragments, the domestic animal bones are about 70% from cattle, 18% pigs, 7% sheep and goats, 3% horses, and 2% dogs. Wild animals made up only 2% of all animal bone studied so far. These included deer, bear, squirrel, elk and beaver. One oddity includes the skull from a Barbary Ape (Macaca sylvana) found in Gorodishche from the 12th century according to C-14 dating. This was probably a pet brought back from the Mediterranean by a long distance trader, perhaps as a gift to the Prince of Novgorod who would have resided at Gorodishche at this time. Among the hunting equipment are some blunt arrows for knocking squirrels out of trees and retaining their pelts whole, indicating the importance of animal fur at this time.

The research being carried out is all done at Novgorod itself thanks to the support of various bodies but especially the Novgorod State Museum. Due to the nature of the material and its deterioration as soon as it comes into contact with the air, the articles must be protected immediately. As soon as they are brought out of the waterlogged ground, oxidation will begin, and the principle difficulties are preventing further deterioration in the condition of these invaluable things.

Acknowledgements

This research project has been financially supported by INTAS and would not have been possible without the very active assistance of the Novgorod State Museum, The Institute for the History of Material Culture in St Petersburg, the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow and the Dept of Archaeology of Moscow State University.

Further reading

http://arc.novgorod.ru is mostly in Russian, but also has pages in English.

Mark Brisbane, Andrew Reynolds, ‘Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Timber City’, Current World Archaeology, no. 7 (2004) 47-58.

Mark Brisbane, David Gaimster (eds), Novgorod: The Archaeology of Russian Medieval City & its Hinterland (2001), BM Occasional Paper No. 141. The British Museum.