Published: 2020-11-25

Prolegomena to the study of birchbark manuscripts

Karol Kollinger
Archeologia Polski
Section: Studies
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/APol65.2020.005

Abstract

The article looks in some detail at the question of letters written on birchbark even as it presents some the basic research issues involving birchbark manuscripts (“gramota”) in general, including the first mentions of this form in the written sources in the Kitāb al-Fihrist and the socalled Questions of Kiryk. The author draws attention to the complex nature of the processes of reading, analyzing, interpreting and translating texts written on birchbark, which are literature on one hand, but archaeological sources on the other. Gramota are products of human activity, and the signs engraved on them contain information passed on in an act of communication. The author compares the significance of manuscripts on birchbark with that of narrative sources, noting the inestimable value of the former. Gramotas are to his view a kind of source material well suited to interdisciplinary studies.

Keywords:

Rus’, Great Novgorod, birchbark manuscripts, Kitāb al-Fihrist, The Questions of Kiryk, act of communication, interdisciplinary studies

Download files

Citation rules

Kollinger, K. (2020). Prolegomena to the study of birchbark manuscripts. Archeologia Polski, 65, 189–214. https://doi.org/10.23858/APol65.2020.005

Cited by / Share

Licence


This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.