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{{for|Native American birch bark writing|Wiigwaasabak}}
{{Short description|Documents written on the inner layer of birch bark}}
[[File:Birch_bark_MS_from_Kashmir_of_the_Rupavatra_Wellcome_L0032691.jpg|right|thumb|A birch bark manuscript from Kashmir of the ''Rupavatara'', a grammatical textbook based on the Sanskrit grammar of [[Pāṇini]] (dated 1663)]]

A '''birch bark manuscript''' is a document written on the outer layer of [[birch bark]], which was commonly used for writing before the mass production of [[paper]]. Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries and appears in various cultures, predominantly in and around the [[Indian subcontinent]] and [[East European Plain]]. The oldest such manuscripts are the numerous [[Gandhāran Buddhist texts]] from approximately the 1st century CE, from what is now Afghanistan. They contain among the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including a ''[[Dhammapada]]'', discourses of Buddha that include the ''[[Rhinoceros Sutra]]'', [[Avadana]]s and [[Abhidharma]] texts.

Sanskrit birch bark manuscripts written with [[Brahmi script]] have been dated to the first few centuries CE. Several early Sanskrit writers, such as [[Kālidāsa]] ({{circa|4th century CE}}), [[Sushruta]] ({{circa|3rd century CE}}), and [[Varāhamihira]] (6th century CE) mention its use for manuscripts. The bark of ''[[Betula utilis]]'' (Himalayan Birch) is still used today in India and [[Nepal]] for writing sacred mantras. Russian texts discovered in [[Veliky Novgorod]] have been dated to approximately the 11th to 15th centuries CE.<ref name="Drinka">{{cite book |last1=Drinka |first1=Bridget |title=Language Contact in Europe: The Periphrastic Perfect through History |date=16 February 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-51493-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r53cDQAAQBAJ |language=en |page=329}}</ref> Most of those documents are letters written by various people in a local dialect, [[Old Novgorod dialect|Old Novgorodian]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Feldbrugge |first1=Ferdinand J. M. |title=A History of Russian Law: From Ancient Times to the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 |date=2 October 2017 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35214-8 |pages=288–290 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDI9DwAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Novgorod Birch-Bark Documents}}</ref> The Irish language's native writing system [[Ogham]], sometimes called the "tree alphabet", was traditionally attributed to the god [[Ogma]] who wrote a proscription on birch to Lugh, warning him; the text of this proscription can be found in the [[Book of Ballymote]]. The first letter of Ogham is ''beith''; ''beithe'' means "birch".

==Gandhāran Buddhist manuscripts==
{{Main|Gandhāran Buddhist texts}}
[[File:Fragmentary_Buddhist_text_-_Gandhara_birchbark_scrolls_(1st_C),_part_31_-_BL_Or._14915.jpg|thumb|Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments ({{circa|1st century}})]]
Buddhist manuscripts written in the [[Gāndhārī language]] are likely the oldest extant Indic texts, dating to approximately the 1st century CE. They were written on birch bark and stored in clay jars. The [[British Library]] acquired them in 1994. They were written in Kharoṣṭhī and were believed to have originated from [[Afghanistan]], because similar birch bark manuscripts had been discovered in eastern Afghanistan.<ref name="AOS">{{cite journal|last=Salomon|first=Richard|date=April 1, 1997|title=A preliminary survey of some early Buddhist manuscripts recently acquired by the British Library|journal=[[The Journal of the American Oriental Society]]|volume=117|issue=2|pages=353–358|publisher=American Oriental Society|doi=10.2307/605500|jstor=605500|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-19728985|url-access=subscription}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Since 1994, a similar collection of Gāndhārī texts from the same era, called the Senior collection, has also surfaced.<ref name="SalomonGlass2000">{{cite book|author1=Richard Salomon|author2=Andrew Glass|title=A Gāndhārī Version of the Rhinoceros Sūtra: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragment 5B|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTmN8Xs9xBkC&pg=PR11|access-date=15 July 2012|year=2000|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98035-5|page=xi}}</ref>

The British Library birch bark manuscripts were in the form of scrolls. They were very fragile and had already been damaged. They measured five to nine inches wide, and consisted of twelve- to eighteen-inch long, overlapping rolls that had been glued together to form longer scrolls. A thread sewn through the edges helped to hold them together. The script was written in black ink. The manuscripts were written on both sides of the scrolls, beginning at the top on one side, continuing with the scroll turned over and upside down, so that the text concluded at the top and back of the scroll. The longest intact scroll from the British Library collection is eighty-four inches long.<ref name="AOS" />

The texts were likely compiled by the Dharmaguptaka sect and probably "represent a random but reasonably representative fraction of what was probably a much larger set of texts preserved in the library of a monastery of the Dharmaguptaka sect in [[Nagarāhāra]]", according to Richard Salomon.<ref>Richard Salomon. ''Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments'', with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. pg 181</ref> The collection includes a variety of known commentaries and sutras, including a ''Dhammapada'', discourses of [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] that include the ''Rhinoceros Sutra'', [[avadāna]]s, and abhidharma texts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Salomon|first=Richard|title=Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|year=1999|isbn=0-295-97769-8}}</ref>

The condition of the scrolls indicates that they were already in poor condition and fragments by the time they were stored in the clay jars. Scholars concluded that the fragmented scrolls were given a ritual interment, much like Jewish texts stored in a [[genizah]].<ref name="AOS" />

==Sanskrit and Brāhmī manuscripts==
[[File:Indian - Sarasvati - Walters 2550.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Sarasvati]] in Walters museum holding a manuscript]]
[[File:Kashmir Sharada MS.jpg|thumb|A [[Kashmir]]i manuscript on birch bark ({{circa|17th century}})]]
The bark of ''[[Betula utilis]]'' (Himalayan Birch) has been used for centuries in India for writing scriptures and texts in various scripts. Its use was especially prevalent in historical [[Kashmir]]. Use of bark as paper has been mentioned by early Sanskrit writers such as [[Kalidasa]] ({{circa|4th century CE}}), [[Sushruta]] ({{circa|3rd century CE}}), and [[Varahamihira]] (6th century CE). In Kashmir, early scholars recounted that all of their books were written on Himalayan birch bark until the 16th century.<ref name="Müller">{{cite book |author=Müller, Friedrich Max |title=Selected essays on language, mythology and religion, Volume 2 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1881 |pages=335–336fn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WuZYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA335}}</ref>

[[File:Bower-ms.jpeg|thumb|The [[Bower Manuscript]] on birch bark ({{circa|450 CE}})]]
A fragment of a birch bark scroll in Sanskrit, in the [[Brāhmī script]], was part of the British Library Gandhara scroll collection. It is presumed to be from North India, dating to sometime during the first few centuries CE.<ref name="Olivelle2006">{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle|title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 Bce to 400 Ce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC&pg=PA356|access-date=15 July 2012|date=13 July 2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-530532-6|pages=356–7}}</ref> Birch bark manuscripts in Brāhmī script were discovered in an ancient Buddhist monastery in [[Jaulian]], near [[Taxila]] in the Punjab in Pakistan, and dated to the 5th century CE.<ref name="Behrendt2003">{{cite book|author=Kurt A. Behrendt|title=Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. The Buddhist architecture of Gandhāra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9_vbgkzUSkC&pg=PA35|access-date=15 July 2012|year=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-13595-6|pages=35–36}}</ref>

The [[Bakhshali manuscript]] consists of seventy birch bark fragments written in Sanskrit and Prakrit, in the [[Śāradā script]]. Based on the language and content, it is estimated to be from the 2nd to 3rd century CE. The text discusses various mathematical techniques.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Companion and Commentary |author1=John Newsome Crossley |author2=Anthony Wah-Cheung Lun |author3=Kangshen Shen |author4=Shen Kangsheng |year= 1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiTJHRGTG6YC&q=%22Bakhshali+Manuscript%22&pg=RA1-PA29|isbn=0-19-853936-3}}</ref><ref name="Bodleian">{{cite web|url=http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/The-Bakhshali-Manuscript|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005013320/http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/The-Bakhshali-Manuscript|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 October 2011|title=The Bakhshali Manuscript|work=Treasures of the Bodleian|publisher=University of Oxford Bodleian Library|access-date=16 July 2012}}</ref>

A large collection of birch bark scrolls were discovered in Afghanistan during the civil war in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, possibly in the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Bamiyan Caves]]. The approximately 3,000 scroll fragments are in Sanskrit or Buddhist Sanskrit, in the Brāhmī script, and date to a period from the 2nd to 8th century CE.<ref name="Olivelle2006" />

The [[Bower Manuscript]] is one of the oldest Sanskrit texts on birch bark in the Brāhmī script. It includes several texts covering subjects including a medical treatise and proverbs. It was discovered in [[Kucha]] (currently in [[Aksu Prefecture]] in [[Xinjiang]], China), an ancient Buddhist kingdom on the northern [[Silk Road]], and is estimated to be from around 450 CE.<ref name="Diringer1953">{{cite book|author=David Diringer|title=The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7NVKLKY4jIcC&pg=PA361|access-date=16 July 2012|year=1953|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|page=361}}</ref>

The [[Gilgit#Gilgit manuscripts|Gilgit Manuscripts]] were Buddhist texts discovered in the Gilgit area of Pakistan in 1931 and include various sutras, including the [[Lotus Sutra]], along with folk tales, medicine, and philosophy. They are dated to approximately the 5th to 6th centuries AD, and were written in Buddhist Sanskrit in the [[Śāradā script]].<ref name="Marwah">{{cite web|author=Gyan Marwah|work=The South Asian Magazine|title=Gilgit Manuscript — Piecing Together Fragments of History|url=http://www.the-south-asian.com/Aug2004/Gilgit_manuscript.htm|location=Haryana, India|access-date=2009-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[UNESCO]]|title=Gilgit Manuscript|url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=22448&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922013344/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D22448%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-09-22|work=Memory of the World Register|access-date=2009-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17935041|title=India: Rare Buddhist manuscript Lotus Sutra released|date=2012-05-03|work=BBC News|access-date=17 July 2012}}</ref>

Manuscripts containing the Devīkavaca text, a hymn praising the goddess [[Durga]], were thought to protect the person who carries them from evil influences like an amulet or charm.<ref>{{cite web|title=Devīkavaca|url=http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01578|publisher=Cambridge Digital Library|access-date=12 February 2013}}</ref> An example of one of these texts in [[Devanagari]] script from [[Nepal]] is held at [[Cambridge University Library]] (MS Add. 1578).

Birch bark is still used in some parts of India and Nepal for writing sacred [[mantra]]s.<ref name= "Müller" /><ref name="Wheeler">{{cite book |author=Wheeler, David Martyn |title=Hortus Revisited: A 21st Birthday Anthology |publisher=Frances Lincoln |location=London |year=2008 |page=119 |isbn=978-0-7112-2738-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20vS2esVCRcC&pg=PA119 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This practice was first mentioned {{circa|8th}} or 9th century CE, in the Lakshmi Tantra.<ref name="Gupta">{{cite book |author=Gupta, Sanjukta |title=Laksmi Tantra a Pancaratra text; Orientalia Rheno-traiectina; v.15 |publisher=Brill Archive |year=1972 |page=xxi |isbn=9004034196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR21}}</ref>

In Indian sculpture, a birch bark manuscript is easily identified by the droop. A palm leaf manuscript is stiff.

==East Slavic manuscripts==
[[File:Birch bark document 210.jpg|thumb|250px|Birch-bark letter no. 202<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gramoty.ru/index.php?no=202&act=full&key=bb |title=Древнерусские берестяные грамоты. Грамота №202 |access-date=2008-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124003925/http://gramoty.ru/index.php?no=202&act=full&key=bb |archive-date=2015-11-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> contains spelling lessons and drawings made by a boy named [[Onfim]]; based on craftsmanship, experts estimate his age as between 6 and 7 at the time.]]

On July 26, 1951, during excavations in [[Novgorod]], Nina Fyodorovna Akulova discovered the first Russian birch bark manuscript in a [[Stratigraphy (archaeology)|stratigraphic layer]] dated to around the year 1400.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xi}} As of 2018, a total of 1,222 items have been discovered in 12 cities, of which 1,113 were found in Novgorod.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} In Russia, outside of Novgorod, the others were found in [[Staraya Russa]] (49), [[Torzhok]] (19), [[Smolensk]] (16), [[Pskov]] (8), [[Tver]] (5), [[Moscow]] (4), [[Ryazan]] (1), and [[Vologda]] (1).{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} Outside of Russia, the rest were found in [[Mstsislaw]] (2) and [[Vitebsk]] (1) in Belarus, and in [[Zvenyhorod]] (3) in Ukraine.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} Of the birch bark documents unearthed in Russia, 90% were found in Novgorod and 97% were found in the same historic region as Novgorod.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=20}}

[[Image:Новгородская грамота 109 от Жизномира к Микуле 12 век.jpg|thumb|250px|Birch-bark letter no. 109, c. 12th century, [[Veliky Novgorod]]; photograph]]
In Russian, the study of birch bark letters is informally known as ''berestologiya'', from the word ''beryosta'' for the outer birch bark.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xii}} Less than 3% of medieval Novgorod has been systematically excavated, and [[Valentin Yanin]], the head of the Novgorod Archaeological Expedition, estimated that more than 20,000 remain to be discovered in Novgorod alone.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=22}} Although the birch bark letters do not contain explicit dates, archaeologists have been able to date them with an accuracy of 10 to 15 years using methods including [[stratigraphy]] and [[dendrochronology]].{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=27}} They can be dated even more precisely if historical names or events are mentioned.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=27}}

The late discovery of birch documents, as well as their amazing state of preservation, is explained by a deep culture layer in Novgorod (up to eight meters, or 25 feet) and heavy waterlogged [[clay]] soil which prevents the access of [[oxygen]]. Serious excavations in Novgorod started only in 1932, although some attempts had been made in the 19th century. The earliest possible mention of their existence comes from authorities cited by [[Ibn al-Nadim]], who described "Russians" writing upon "white wood" and gave an example of a "Russian" system of writing, adding, "I do not know whether these are words or single letters".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wellisch |first1=Hans H. |title=The first Arab bibliography : Fihrist al- ʻulum |publisher=University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science |url=https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/3825/gslisoccasionalpv00000i00175.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702212424/https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/3825/gslisoccasionalpv00000i00175.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-02 |language=en|oclc=15111521 |page=16 |quote=One of al-Nadim's authorities told him that the Russians use 'white wood' (probably birch bark) as writing material, and he also displays an example of purportedly 'Russian' writing wisely adding 'I do not know whether these are words or single letters' because the example resembles neither.}}</ref> Over two hundred [[stylus]]es have also been found, mostly made of [[iron]], some of [[bone]] or [[bronze]].

[[Andrey Zaliznyak]] distinguished the manuscripts in Novgorod from "supra-dialectal Old Russian".{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11|loc=Chapter 1.5}} Other manuscripts in Novgorod have also shown distinct [[Northern Russian dialects|north Russian dialect]] forms.{{sfn|Greenberg|2017|p=519}} As [[Church Slavonic]] was used in liturgical and religious writing, while a supra-regional variety was used for trade, it is unclear to what extent Novgorodians at the time would have considered them to have been separate languages or distinct registers of a single language.{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11}} In addition, there is some variation in birch bark letters due to a lack of standardization that is seen with modern literary languages.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=52}} Some texts are also written with a mixture of Church Slavonic and [[Old Novgorodian]], but others are written in a pure vernacular.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=52}} The language found in the birch bark manuscripts represents the closest approximation to the vernacular Old Russian language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sussex |first1=Roland |author1-link=Roland Sussex |last2=Cubberley |first2=Paul |title=The Slavic languages |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2006 | location=Cambridge | isbn=978-0-521-22315-7 |page=81}}</ref><ref name="Drinka"/>

According to Yanin and Zaliznyak, most documents are ordinary letters by various people written in what is considered to be a vernacular dialect. The letters are of a personal or business character. A few documents include elaborate obscenities. Very few documents are written in Church Slavonic and only one in [[Old Norse]]. The school exercises and drawings by a young boy named [[Onfim]] have drawn much attention.<ref>*{{cite book|last=Schaeken|first=Jos|title=Stemmen Op Berkenbast: Berichten Uit Middeleeuws Rusland: Dagelijks Leven en Communicatie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSjrvm_c57kC&pg=RA1-PA103|year=2012|publisher=Amsterdam UP|pages=101–105|isbn=9789087281618}}</ref><ref>* [[Valentin Yanin|Yanin, Valentin L.]] (Feb 1990). "The Archaeology of Novgorod". ''Scientific American'', p. 84. Covers, ''History, "Kremlin of Novgorod", "Novgorod Museum of History", preservation dynamics, and the production of 'Birch bark documents'.'' This article contains examples of birch bark documents, styluses, and photographs.</ref>{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=109}} Since the manuscripts were written by laypeople and consist of casual notes, it has been suggested that there was widespread literacy across large segments of urban society in medieval Russia; according to one estimate, 20% of the urban male population in Russian city-states were literate around the mid-13th century.{{sfn|Rakhlin|Kornilov|Grigorenko|2017|p=393}}

The contents of the birch bark writings included not only religious writings but also document death of princes, conclusions of peace, dignitary arrivals, folk verses and local proverbs, even casual doodles. While legal related matters include accusations, witnesses and the procedure of evidence, payments and fines, theft, fraud as well as wife-beating. One mundane personal writing reads "Sell the house and come to Smolensk or Kiev; bread is cheap; if you cannot come, write to me about your health".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Franklin |first=Simon |date=1985 |title=Literacy and Documentation in Early Medieval Russia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2852132 |journal=Speculum |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=5–7 |doi=10.2307/2852132 |jstor=2852132 |issn=0038-7134|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

One of the smallest birch bark letters found is no. 79, which is no larger than 6 x 1.5cm, while no. 397 is 4.6 x 2.6cm.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=33}} On the opposite side of the scale, no. 519 is 47.2 x 16cm.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=33}} Of those where the texts have been preserved in their entirety, most are no more than 20 words long, with a few exceeding 50 words.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=35}} The longest one, found in Moscow (Moscow 3), contains 52 lines and about 370 words.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=35}} The second longest, no. 531, is 166 words.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=35}} The majority of surviving birch bark letters have missing text, with only a quarter of the entire corpus having complete texts.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=35}}

==Finnic manuscripts==
[[Image:Birch-bark letter 292.gif|thumb|350px|[[Birch bark letter no. 292|Birch-bark letter no. 292]], oldest known [[Finnic language]] text (first half of the 13th century)]]
The [[birch bark letter no. 292]] from the Novgorod excavations (unearthed in 1957) is the oldest known document in any [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] language. It is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in [[Olonets Karelia]], a dialect of the [[Karelian language]].

==Writings made in the Soviet Union==
[[File:Kārlis Roberts Kalevics letter.png|thumb|Birch bark letter from Siberia by {{ill|lt=Kārlis Roberts Kalevics|Roberts Kalevics|lv}} (1877–1945)<ref name=krk>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07425/?sp=2&r=-0.19,-0.039,1.38,0.771,0 Image 2 of Letter on Birch Bark from Siberia] by {{ill|lt=Kārlis Roberts Kalevics|Roberts Kalevics|lv}}, October 1, 1941</ref>]]
There are birch bark letters written in the 20th century, most notably by victims of the repressions of the [[USSR|Soviet]] [[Stalinist]] regime. People in [[Forced settlements in the Soviet Union|Soviet 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. In 2023 [[birch bark letters from Siberia]] Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, applied to include birch bark letters from Siberia (1945–1965) in the [[UNESCO]] "[[Memory of the World]]" Register.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Salganik |first=Tatiana |date=2023-11-29 |title=Letters on birch bark written by Ukrainian political prisoners from Siberia will be included in the UNESCO heritage list – Ministry of Culture |url=https://unn.ua/en/news/letters-on-birch-bark-written-by-ukrainian-political-prisoners-from-siberia-will-be-included-in-the-unesco-heritage-list-ministry-of-culture |access-date=2026-03-30 |publisher=[[Ukrainian National News]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="err_ee">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-11-28 |title=Baltics, Poland, Ukraine submit gulag birch bark letters to UNESCO register |url=https://news.err.ee/1609178587/baltics-poland-ukraine-submit-gulag-birch-bark-letters-to-unesco-register |access-date=2026-03-30 |website=[[Estonian Public Broadcasting|ERR News]] |language=en}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], propaganda newspapers and leaflets published by guerilla fighters were sometimes printed on birch bark due to shortage of paper.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://history.milportal.ru/2014/04/partizanskaya-pechat-orlovskoj-oblasti-v-gody-vojny/|title=Guerilla press of the Oryol Region during the years of war|access-date=2017-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225051447/http://history.milportal.ru/2014/04/partizanskaya-pechat-orlovskoj-oblasti-v-gody-vojny/|archive-date=2017-02-25|url-status=dead|magazine=Военно-исторический журнал|date=Apr 2014|last=КОНДРАТЕНКО|first=Алексей Иванович}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2003/10/07/vystavka.html|title=Гусман "просветил" Фетисова|website=Российская газета|date=7 October 2003 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bryggen inscriptions]], documents of the same age found in Bergen, Norway
* [[List of Russian archaeologists]]
* [[Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing]]
* See the [[Old Novgorod dialect]] article for samples of some texts
* [[Onfim]] – boy from medieval Novgorod, famous for his birch bark drawings
* [[Palm-leaf manuscript]]
* [[Russian archaeology]]
* [[Wiigwaasabak]] – birch bark scrolls of the Ojibwa people
*[[Yukaghir birch-bark carvings]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last1=Dekker |first1=Simeon |title=Old Russian Birchbark Letters: A Pragmatic Approach |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-36238-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AV1cswEACAAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Marc L. |editor1-last=Kapović |editor1-first=Mate |chapter=Slavic |title=The Indo-European Languages |date=20 January 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-39153-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0lDwAAQBAJ |language=en | pages=519–551}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rakhlin |first1=Natalia |last2=Kornilov |first2=Sergey A. |last3=Grigorenko |first3=Elena L. |title=Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems |date=12 October 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-09588-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-w0DwAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Learning to Read Russian}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schaeken |first1=Jos |title=Voices on Birchbark: Everyday Communication in Medieval Russia |date=5 November 2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-38942-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5GFDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Birch bark manuscripts}}
{{Wiktionary|berestology}}

*[https://gandhari.org Gandhari.org] Complete Corpus, Catalog, Bibliography and Dictionary of Gāndhārī texts
*[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/gandhara.html British Library Gandharan Scrolls] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808104259/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/gandhara.html |date=2018-08-08 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140911211001/http://ebmp.org/ The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project at University of Washington]
*[http://slavic.uchicago.edu/archived/bblphotos University of Chicago Novgorodian Scrolls] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424201020/https://slavic.uchicago.edu/archived/bblphotos |date=2020-04-24 }}
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://gramoty.ru/ 956 Russian birch bark documents with modern translations]
*[https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01578 Devīkavaca] at [[Cambridge University Library]]
*[http://oapen.org/search?identifier=418530;keyword=schaeken ''Stemmen op Boombast''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810135908/http://oapen.org/search?identifier=418530;keyword=schaeken |date=2014-08-10 }}, monograph by Jos Schaeken on the Novgorod ''beretsy'' (free download)

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[[Category:Archaeological corpora]]
[[Category:Birch bark]]
[[Category:Brahmic scripts]]
[[Category:Early Buddhist texts]]
[[Category:Gandhara]]
[[Category:Novgorod Republic]]
[[Category:Old East Slavic inscriptions]]
[[Category:Sanskrit texts]]
[[Category:Slavic culture]]

Birch bark manuscript - Revision history

VirgieSalter103 at 19:14, 6 May 2026