Unique birch bark letters from the 17th century were discovered in Yakutsk

YAKUTSK, July 22 Birch bark letters from the 17th century were discovered during excavations in Yakutsk, this is the first such find in the Far East, the head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Aisen Nikolaev reports in his Telegram channel.
«During the archaeological excavations in Yakutsk, at the intersection of Kalandarishvili Street and Mark Zhirkov Lane, unique birch bark letters were discovered! The first unique find in the Far East was discovered by a student from the city of Kirov, Vitaly Tatarinov. To date, nine such letters have been found. The Yakut letters were written in ink in a cursive script from the 17th century,» the head of the region said.

Nikolaev noted that, according to archaeologists, the letters belong to the archive of the voivodeship chancery, which was lost in a fire in 1700.

«So far, we have managed to read the first fragment of the charters, which talks about collecting yasak. Now the main task is to preserve the charters in their original form. This is a truly sensational and unique find, which has enormous scientific and cultural value not only of republican but also federal significance,» he added.