Although their existence was mentioned in some old East Slavic manuscripts, the discovery of birch bark documents significantly changed the understanding of the cultural level and language spoken by the East Slavs between 11th and 15th centuries. According to scientists most documents are ordinary letters by various people. The letters are of a personal or business character.

Additionally, there are birch bark letters written in modern times, most notably by victims of the Soviet Regime. People in forced settlements and GULAG camps in Siberia used strips of birch bark to write letters to their loved ones back home, due to inaccessibility of paper. Examples of these letters from Latvian victims of the Soviet regime are currently being considered to be included in the UNESCO “Memory of the World” heritage list.

Notes:

Common Era or Current Era (CE) is a year-numbering system (calendar era)

for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, that is, the years beginning with AD 1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era (BCE).

2. Answer the following questions:

1) What is a birch bark manuscript?

2) What were the oldest birch bark manuscripts?

3) How long is the longest birch bark scroll?

4) Where were the Buddhist birch bark texts stored?

5) On which side of the scroll were birch bark written?

6) What helped to hold birch bark scrolls together?

7) What for did the people in India use the bark?

8) When and where was the largest collection of birch bark scrolls discovered?

9) Where and when were the first Russian birch bark documents found?

10) What other places were birch bark manuscripts found?

11) Why was the discovery of Russian birch bark documents important?

12) Who wrote birch bark letters in modern times?

3. Find the English equivalents in the text:

4. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.

5. Do you know the translation of these words?

1. Read the text and translate the words and phrases given in bold:

An ostracon is a piece of pottery or stone, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. The word is derived from Greek ostrakon. It means a shell or a shard of pottery used as a voting ballot. In Athens, the voting public wrote or scratched the name of a person in the shard of pottery. When the decision was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizens wrote the name of the person on the piece of pottery. The vote was counted and if the person was unfavorable he was exiled for a period of ten years from the city. Thus the term ostracism appeared.

Anything with a smooth surface could be used as a writing surface. Ostraca were cheap, readily available and therefore frequently used for writings of messages, prescriptions, receipts, students’ exercises and notes. Pottery shards, limestone flakes, thin fragments of other stone types, etc., were also used for writing, but limestone shards were most common. Ostraca were typically small, covered with just a few words or a small picture drawn in ink.

The importance of ostraca for Egyptology is immense. The combination of their physical nature and the Egyptian climate has preserved texts, from the medical to the mundane, which in other cultures were lost. The many ostraca found at Deir el-Medina provide a brand new view into the medical workings of the New Kingdom. These ostraca have shown that, like other Egyptian communities, the workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care through a combination of medical treatment, prayer, and magic.