[Sca-cooks] Novgorod bark texts

[Mark.S Harris]

Akim wrote in reply to me:
> Stefan wrote:
> >Anyway, we shall see if he writes me back and whether something
> >productive can come from this. I specifically mentioned the Birch
> >bark writings that have been found which, as far as I've heard,
> >have never been translated into English. Maybe they are available
> >there in Russian.
>
> Actually, a rather large number of them have been translated into English as
> the Soviet Union archaeological groups often published their results in
> books
> with both Russian and English texts.  Apparently, sales of these books
> outside
> of the old USSR helped fund their expeditions greatly.

Good. I might be willing to help them further fund their expeditions
and perhaps others would too, if they could find out where these
publications might be available. I still think it might be possible
to write a book for the "popular" market that would use these.

> The birch bark
> writings are mainly from the Novgorod region, which is the city from which
> my
> persona hails.  The vast majority of them are, alas, comparable to our
> shopping lists and personal short letters similar to "can you send me the
> grey
> wool shirt and the brown fur hat I forgot to bring with me?" or "The dogs
> killed 21 of Ivan Revenvits' chickens and he wants to be paid for them! Send
> money.".

Yes. And? This is exactly the kind of details of daily life that
should be useful in our hobby. At least compared to the machinations
and ravings of the Royalty and extreme upper class. I think, for
instance, that it is less important to know that Charlemange had
an imported tunic made of cotton, than that the pretty much everyone
else in his culture was wearing linen and wool.

Even your statements, which I imagine you made up, would raise
questions and confirm the answers to others.

1) Natural or dyed wool shirt?
2) From what animal was the brown fur hat?
3) There was obviously a money economy.
4) Dogs and chickens were both domesticated.
etc.

> So far, there has been no discovery of any permanent book types
> written on birch bark and no recipes either.  They have these by the ton
> however as the acidity of the soil has preserved them perfectly in middens.

Then there ought to be some useful stuff. Even if a high proportion of
it is obscure, since there is so much stuff, there is a a good chance
of finding some useful info.

> Who
> knows what may come to light, but don't get your hopes for early (800-1200
> C.E.) Russian recipes too high.

No, I wouldn't expect recipes. They would be wonderful if such an
item were found. But a grocery list does help say what foods were
eaten. Tax rolls/reciepts would give an idea of the relative
worth of various items. Some of this might help detail which foods
were grown locally and which were imported.

Can *I* organise and extract useful trends/items from this raw date
even if translated? Probably not. But there are folks out there who
can.

> Akim Yaroslavich

Stefan li Rous