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No.51 - April 2002 | Contex HOME Great Lord
Novgorod ‘Great Lord Novgorod’ was the intriguing title of Professor Clive Orton’s lecture at our November meeting. This important medieval Russian city owed its origin to Viking traders who established river routes from Scandinavia to the Black Sea and the Byzantine Empire. The settlement of Novgorod (‘New Town’) was established on the river Volkhov either in mid 9th Century, according to documentary sources, or in the mid 10th Century, according to archaeological evidence. Novgorod developed in parallel with Kiev, on the same trade route, as both a trading and craft centre. It supplied raw materials from the northern forests, e.g. timber and furs (indeed the ‘Squirrel’ became an informal unit of currency). It was also a notable centre for the production of a wide range of useful and decorative objects in wood, bone, metal and leather. Novgorod carved out its own large territory in NW Russia and had western connections through being an outpost of the Hanseatic League trading system. Medieval Novgorod enjoyed a primitive form of democracy, being run by council of ‘Boyars’, with the ‘Prince’ acting more as a hired military leader. It was also had a reputation for culture and literacy, that was extensive, as proven by the 900 birch bark documents that have been found in the last 50 years. These include letters from women and children, as well as informal notes on family and trading matters and events in the city. Novgorod’s political power declined in the 15th Century as Moscow rose, and it was superseded as a trading centre by the founding of St Petersburg c.1700, eventually becoming such a sleepy backwater that it was even by-passed by the main railway from St Petersburg to Moscow. Today however it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Why? The answer lies in the subsoil, which is a cold, waterlogged clay, above which is a thick peaty soil made of accumulated organic waste like animal dung and wood chippings. This grew at the rate of about 1 metre per century during the medieval period and can be 7m or more deep in some parts of the excavated area. This soil is excellent for preserving both organic items, made of wood, bone, horn and leather, and metals, which give a wonderful picture of the range of objects in day-to-day use. It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish conventional ‘stratigraphy’ in these dark deposits, consequently Russian archaeologists have developed their own methods of excavating and dating their site. The key lies in the fact that the entire medieval town was built of wood, including the streets. Because of the rising ground level the timber road surfaces were replaced about every 20-30 years, up to a maximum of 28 superimposed layers. The timber can be closely dated by dendrochronology, which by extension gives dates to its horizontal horizon and objects found in it. Excavation has been carried on since the 1930’s, so that the topography and street layout of the medieval town are now well understood, with a typical property consisting of a house in a compound with lesser buildings, surrounded by a tall fence. There have been long term excavations in some large areas with deep deposits, and others in advance of Novgorod’s not very speedy redevelopment. The excavations are well organised but can appear chaotic to a British observer, with up to 300 on site at one time. The unit of excavation is a 2m square dug in 20cm spits by schoolchildren in teams of three. One shovels, putting the soil on a sledge, and the others break up the clods and search for finds. Recording is done by University students and supervision is by staff from the Novgorod Archaeological Centre. The Russian techniques have obvious weaknesses, e.g. It is not possible to establish whether finds come from outside or inside a building within a 2m unit, and horizons within each 20cm spit are not distinguished. Moreover the reliance on dendrochronological dates for horizontal layers may not be reliable if the ground sloped or deposits accumulated at different rates, while the dendro-curve is itself based on two species, spruce and pine. Despite these limitations the Russians’ achievements have been considerable and are an effective way of dealing with Novgorod’s special conditions. However the finding of many high quality objects has led to the relative neglect of more mundane finds including environmental evidence and coarse pottery, Clive Orton’s own special interest. Bournemouth University and the Institute of Archaeology have in recent years been involved with INTAS, an EU agency to bring western techniques and technology to the former USSR, which has supported the visits by British specialists to the Novgorod excavations, including Prof Orton. In one part of the project the visitors were allocated a section of a trench on the Troitsky (Trinity) site, to dig by their methods. Thus temporary sections, context numbers and string appeared on a Novgorod excavation for the first time. These methods revealed the floor levels of the ‘English’ house, as it became known, and wood working waste from the house’s construction, that interested the British more than the Russians. Other members of the party established themselves in the basement of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign, with a programme of environmental sieving, and work to establish the development of Novgorod’s coarse pottery. The team were particularly excited to find groups of pottery ‘wasters’, including glazed wares, despite the Russians’ disbelief that anyone would risk firing a kiln in a wooden town; they had dismissed them as material damaged by fire. Clearly a new area of research into Novgorod’s trading connections and craft activity has been opened up by these findings. Clive concluded his lecture with a tour of the more picturesque and historical buildings of contemporary Novgorod, including the medieval church of the Transfiguration and the Kremlin, that is actually older than the one in Moscow, concluding at the Museum of Wooden Architecture, a collection of reconstructed vernacular buildings, where a local craftsman was making hats and shoes from birch bark. This fascinating old Russian city has a lot to offer its growing number of visitors. FURTHER READING If you would like to know more about Novgorod, Prof Orton recommends a new publication from the British Museum in their ‘Occasional Papers’ series:- Novgorod: the Archaeology
of a Russian Medieval City and its Hinterland. While you are it, you can still order the report of COLAS’s epic excavation in Hampshire. Faccombe Netherton: excavations of a Saxon and medieval manorial complex (2 v.) J. Fairbrother 1990 British Museum Occasional Paper 74. Price £25 plus £2.50 p & p. ISBN 0 86159 074 0). The British Museum Press
is at 46 Bloomsbury St, WC1B 3QQ Tel 020 7323 1234.
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