26 июля 1951 года в Новгороде найдены первые берестяные грамоты

Nina Akulova came to the excavations in Veliky Novgorod to work part-time during her vacation. She found a dirty and tightly rolled up scroll of birch bark in a gap between two planks of the sidewalk of the XIV century. Scratched letters shone through the dirt, they formed words, and the words formed a list of duties, which came from several villages in favor of a certain Foma. Then a second, third and tenth writings were found. It turned out that the writings were nothing new to the residents of Veliky Novgorod in the 11th century. Moreover, not only noble townspeople, but also common people and even, it's a “shame" to say, women wrote the letters on birch bark. It is curious that mostly these were debt receipts and complaints that went through the darkness of centuries and the thickness of the years. This is the most enduring genre, apparently!