The Archaeology of medieval Novgorod, Russia
A Chronological Framework for early medieval Towns in NW Russia: the evidence from ceramics and dendrochronology (INTAS-96-099)
* Novgorod - the location
* Timber buildings at the Troitsky excavations, Novgorod
Project Co-ordinator: Mark Brisbane, Bournemouth University
The Results of the Project
The project helped to establish a chronological framework for early medieval towns in NW Russia based on the evidence from ceramics and dendrochronology, mostly from Novgorod but also including Pskov and Stara Russa. It examined the large bulk of ceramic material (largely grey wares) from Novgorod, creating a form and fabric series based on the material from the excavations at the Troitsky site and a comparison with similar material from other medieval towns (e.g. Pskov and Torshok). It produced results on possible local production centres for some of these ceramics, suggesting non-local sources for a small minority.
It enhanced existing research capabilities in the study of medieval ceramics in NW Russia, providing appropriate training for Russian personnel in the study and analysis of large assemblages from urban deposits.
It examined the imported pottery from the Baltic and Western Europe, quantifying these and comparing their distribution within Novgorod to other towns, notably Pskov. Various explanations for differences in their distribution were investigated such as the town’s position with regard to the Hanseatic trading community.
It examined the use of wood within the medieval town: for fuel, for structures (buildings and streets) and for artifacts. Species of wood used were identified and the extent of turning (by pole lath) was considered. A digital archive of the images of many of the wooden artifacts was completed and is the basis of a publication on various aspects of wood and wood working in Novgorod.
Issues to do with the study of dendrochronology were examined. First amongst these was the comparison between curves created for NW Russia with other parts of northern Europe, especially Scandinavia and the Baltic. Differences in curves created from pine and spruce were noted, indicating a reliable pine-based curve, but an as yet unreliable spruce curve.
The consolidation of a new dendrochronology laboratory in Novgorod was undertaken. It has developed clear research objectives. Its staff has been given appropriate training, including time spent in the Copenhagen National Museum’s dendro lab. The award of an INTAS Fellowship for Ms Olga Tarabardina was instrumental in this regard.
Impact of the Results
These results have implications throughout Europe for the study of the origins and development of medieval towns; the study of archaeological materials particularly wood and ceramics; the scientific methods used in dendrochronology; and the analysis of complex societies.
The quality of the preservation of organic materials within Novgorod makes this study of pan-European value to archaeology for it allows the analysis of this material to a level not possible elsewhere. The integration of organic materials into the wider study of other forms of material culture has wide ranging implications for the way that medieval artifacts are studied and valued.
References to key papers resulting directly from the project
In Russian:
Brisbane, M, Gaimster, D & Orton, C, 1999. Novgorod Ceramics: Preliminary investigations, in Novgorod and Novgorod Land: History and Archaeology, 71 – 82. Novgorod.
Hather, J, 1999. Wood Use in medieval Novgorod, in Novgorod and Novgorod Land: History and Archaeology, 46 – 57. Novgorod
In English:
Brisbane, M, Medieval Novgorod and its hinterland: ten years of international collaboration, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London (2001)
Brorsson, T, 2001, Behind the pottery: signs of contacts across the Baltic Sea, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Gaimster, D, 2001, Pelts, pitch and pottery: the archaeology of Hanseatic trade in medieval Novgorod, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Gorunova, V M, Early wheel-made ceramics recovered from Gorodishche, 2006, Novgorod and Stara Ladoga (10th – 11th century), in Orton (ed.) The Pottery from Medieval Novgorod and its Region, Bournemouth University and UCL, London.
Hather, J, 2001, Wood turning technology in medieval Novgorod, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Malygin, P, and Orton, C, 2001, Approaches to a large, relatively uniform assemblage of ceramics, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Plokhov, A V, 2006, Hand made ceramics from Gorodishche, in Orton (ed.) The Pottery from Medieval Novgorod and its Region, Bournemouth University and UCL, London.
Tarabardina, O, 2001, Dendrochronology in Novgorod: its history and current programme of research, in Brisbane and Gaimster (eds.) Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Main Results achieved and their significance
Ceramics
The creation of a type and fabric series for medieval pottery in NW Russia is a large and important task. While some work on forms and typologies had been undertaken previously, much of this work was at least 20 years old and little or no systematic work had been done on the pottery fabrics, making comparisons with other assemblages across Europe extremely difficult, if not impossible.
In the first two years of the project the key sites for this work were investigated, namely Novgorod and its hinterland sites such as Gorodishche, Ladoga and Pskov. Material from Torshok has also been included for comparative purposes. It has been possible to begin the analysis of this material, building on the earlier work of G P Smirnova and others, and to bring together various specialists who had previously been working on this material independently. A methodology was devised and tested by Orton and Malygin, producing a pilot study of the Novgorod sequence from one site (Troitsky XI). During 1999 this work was extended to material from other Novgorod sites and from Pskov and Torshok. Numerous colleagues have been involved, especially on the investigation of the hand made pottery from Gorodishche by Plokhov and on early (10th - 11th century) wheel-turned wares from Gorodishche, Novgorod and Ladoga by Gorunova. Analyses undertaken by the Lund team have been both innovative and constructive. Using petrological analysis and the identification of diatoms within certain clays, it has been possible to suggest probable local sources of clay for some of the fabrics groups identified by Orton and Malygin.
The imported wares from Western Europe were identified and a catalogue produced for Novgorod and Pskov material. Material from Germany, England and the Baltic has been identified. The publication of this material is a significant contribution to medieval and post-medieval ceramic studies.
The analysis of this material has indicated the extent of contact with Western Europe through trade and mercantile activity in the medieval and post medieval period. Comparison between the distribution of this material in Novgorod with other towns, notably Pskov, shows important differences in the way in which this material entered and circulated within the towns. In the case of Novgorod there appears to be a much more restricted distribution of this material suggesting use within the enclave of foreign traders such as the German and Gotlanders’ Courts (Gaimster, 2001).
Dendrochronology
The archaeology of NW Russia has produced some absolutely vital sites for the medieval period, much of which has been dated by a long-running programme of dendrochronological analysis. This work has been largely undertaken without reference to work being undertaken elsewhere throughout Scandinavia and other west European countries, notably Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the UK. It has long been recognized that there are differences between hardwood and softwood curves, but recently the importance of identifying the different species of coniferous trees has been indicated by work in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Until this project was undertaken, little attempt had been made to differentiate by species the material being used for tree-ring dating at key Russian sites, such as Novgorod. This part of our project addressed this problem at the start, as progress in this was fundamental to carrying out more general research on constructing and testing north European dating curves. In order to do this, a modern dendrochronology laboratory has now been created in Novgorod (the logical place for such a lab), that will undertake work on material not only from Novgorod itself, but also from surrounding sites in the area. The current lab facilities have been upgraded, as have staff skills and expertise.
More specifically, results from this work have included the testing of pine curves across a number of dendro labs in northern Europe, with the result that it is now clear that the Novgorod pine curve is secure and reliable and fits well with other curves. Some small areas of discrepancy are still being investigated.
With regard to the spruce curve, this is a much more complicated situation. Although individual spruce samples (in particular during the early period of Novgorod’s existence) reveal a high level of similarity with pine samples and can be compared with them within the confines of one and the same group of buildings, it is clear that not enough materials have been collected for a spruce-chronology to be devised that would cover a long period of time.
There is therefore still much work to be done by the Novgorod dendro-chronological lab, but an excellent start has been made to define the problems and begin to tackle these, sharing results and difficulties with other labs. The support of the Danish National Museum’s lab has been very helpful, and this link is now well established.
The long term survival of the new Novgorod lab has been made more likely by the support of the Novgorod State Museum who have accepted management and organizational responsibility for it.
The importance of a reliable and well-founded dendro lab producing secure dates cannot be over-emphasized. Novgorod produces some of the best-dated contexts within medieval archaeology, and the value of this continued work is vital to medieval archaeology. In addition, the importance of other data that the dendro lab produces regarding species identification, climate and other environmental data is equally important on both a regional and national scale.
Wood
Novgorod possesses probably the best collection of medieval turned and shaped wooden objects in Europe. It also has excellently preserved evidence for medieval buildings, fences and related structures, in a sequence that runs from the 10th to 16th centuries. This project is concentrating on the use of wood for objects, buildings and fuel and will attempt to relate this material to the way in which medieval inhabitants exploited their local woodland, as well as using imported woods for specific uses. To do this the identification of the wood species is absolutely vital and in the first two years of the project a large number of items (in excess of 800 artifacts and over 2000 pieces of woodworking waste) were identified (Hather 1999).
The publication of this work is now well advanced with numerous contributions from EU and Russian partners (Brisbane & Hather (eds.), late 2007). As Novgorod represents probably the best collection of medieval wooden objects from any archaeological site within Europe, the publication of this material will be of major significance to the study of European medieval culture.
Synthesis and dissemination of Research
One of the key aims of the project was to work collaboratively on the above materials and to bring the results together in a manner that allowed each sub-team to appreciate work being undertaken by other specialists. To this end, the EAA Conference and the subsequent work on the publications has succeeded in promoting this integration of results. In 1999 the emphasis was on the Conference, where dissemination of preliminary results was the main objective. In 2000 the main emphasis was on refining these studies, leading to the submission of numerous articles by main team participants and ancillary workers.
This ever-widening sphere of influence of the INTAS project is best seen in the number of people now contributing to the four volumes currently well underway. The total has now reached a remarkable 47 individuals producing a total of some 70 different chapters/sections within these four volumes.
Joint Publications of INTAS and NIS project teams
Abstracts in Proceedings
The following abstracts were included within the EAA session on Novgorod held at Bournemouth University in September 1999:
P Malygin, Tver University and C Orton, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Approaches to a large, relatively uniform assemblage of ceramics
M Maltby and S Hamilton-Dyer, Bournemouth University
N Efimova, Novgorod Archaeological Research Centre
The exploitation of animals in medieval Novgorod and its hinterland
Books (these contain numerous papers by participants in this project: for list of contents for each volume, please see Annexe).
Brisbane, M and Gaimster, D (eds.), 2001, Novgorod: The Archaeology of a Medieval Russian City and its Hinterland, British Museum Occasional Paper 141, London.
Brisbane, M and Hather, J (eds.), 2007, Wood Use in Medieval Novgorod, Bournemouth University and Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Maltby, M (ed.), forthcoming, The Environment of Medieval Novgorod and its Region, Bournemouth University and Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Orton, C (ed.), 2006, The Pottery from Medieval Novgorod and its Region, Bournemouth University and UCL, London.
Internal Reports
Tarabardina, O, Bonde, N, Bartolin, T, and Schuster, C, unpublished report, Summary Report on the Dendrochronological work of INTAS Project 96-099
Publications without INTAS-NIS co-authorship of the project teams
National Journals
Brisbane, M, Gaimster, D & Orton, C, 1999. Novgorod Ceramics: Preliminary investigations, in Novgorod and Novgorod Land: History and Archaeology, 71 – 82. Novgorod.
Hather, J, 1999. Wood Use in medieval Novgorod, in Novgorod and Novgorod Land: History and Archaeology, 46 – 57. Novgorod.
Abstracts in Proceedings
The following abstracts were included within the EAA session on Novgorod held at Bournemouth University in September 1999:
E N Nosov, Institute for the History of Material Culture, St. Petersburg
The origins of Novgorod as the centre of Northern Russia
V L Yanin, Novgorod Archaeological Research Centre,
Novgorod and Medieval Archaeology
M A Brisbane, Bournemouth University
Building an international, multidisciplinary response
A S Khoroshev, A Sorokin and M Petrov. Novgorod Archaeological Research Centre
The evidence of buildings and properties in medieval Novgorod
Torbjorn Brorsson, Laboratory for Ceramic Research, Lund University
Behind the pottery: signs of trade across the Baltic Sea
D Gaimster, Dept. of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum
Pelts, pitch and pottery: Hanseatic lifestyles in medieval Novgorod
L Smirnova, Institute of Archaeology, Moscow and Bournemouth University
The working of antler, bone and ivory in Novgorod: a study of a craft industry
J Hather, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
Wood and wood use in medieval Novgorod
E A Rybina, Novgorod Archaeological Research Centre,
Birch-bark letters and the domestic economy of medieval Novgorod
A Alsleben, Institut fur Ur- und Fruhgeschichte, Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany, Early medieval agriculture in the hinterland of Novgorod
A L Aleksandrovsky, Institute of Geography, Moscow
P G Gaidukov, Novgorod Archaeological Research Centre,
and N A Krenke, Institute of Archaeology, Moscow
Wood, meadow, field and the town layout: the evidence from the analysis of the earliest cultural deposits and buried soil in Novgorod
M Monk and P Johnston, University College Cork, Ireland
Plants, people and environment: a preliminary statement on the results of macro-plant remains studies and their contexts from Troitsky XI, Novgorod.
PhD Dissertations
Comey, Martin, PhD dissertation on ‘Medieval Stave-built Wooden Vessels in Russia and Ireland’. University College London. Awarded: 2002.
Smirnova, Lyuba, PhD dissertation on ‘Comb-making in Medieval Novgorod: 950-1450.’ Bournemouth University.
Awarded: 2002.
Internal Reports
Tarabardina, O, unpublished, Dendrochronological analysis of constructions at Troitsky site in Novgorod (field season 1998): Preliminary results.
