Medieval Doodles Of A 7-Year Old Boy Hints At The ‘Universality’ Of Daydreaming

Realm Of History ^ | APRIL 30, 2016 | DATTATREYA MANDAL

[Sawdring]

Novgorod or Veliky Novgorod, is one of the major historical cities of Russia, and it started out as a trading station for the Varangians who traveled from the Baltic region to Constantinople by (possibly) late 10th century AD. But as it turns out, this historically significant settlement of northern Russia is also home to around thousand personal ‘tomes’ that are inscribed on bark of birch trees and are almost preserved in perfect condition. In fact, historians hypothesize that there are 20,000 similar specimens still waiting to be salvaged from the conducive anaerobic clay soil layers of the city environs. And among these documents, there are doodles of a 7-year old boy, thus suggesting how childhood imagination and playfulness were quite universal in human history.

[Sawdring]

[Sirius Lee]

That’s Johnny “Many Fingers” Provenzano. He’s a bit of a rake.

[Charles Henrickson]

As a student of ancient linguistics, I think I can deciper those letters. Let's see . . . Yep, got it:

BESURETODRINK
YOUROVALTINE

[freepertoo]

LOL!

[bgill]

Ooooh, the drawing of him with a sword and killing someone will get him expelled from school!!!!!

[rlmorel]

There are some things that are just universal:

If they weren't daydreaming, they would have been texting!

[ops33]

Crack me up!!

[Palio di Siena]

impressive that a 7 year old medieval youngster could write. illiteracy was the norm. although it doesn’t appear that he was writing in cursive.

[The Toll]

Why did they Photoshop out the Kalashnikovs?

[PROCON]

Those are Aliens!

I KNEW I wasn't the only one to see them!

[Flick Lives]

But as it turns out, this historically significant settlement of northern Russia is also home to around thousand personal ‘tomes’ that are inscribed on bark of birch trees and are almost preserved in perfect condition. In fact, historians hypothesize that there are 20,000 similar specimens still waiting to be salvaged from the conducive anaerobic clay soil layers of the city environs.

What a wonderful treasure trove waiting to be uncovered. It is also unusual to have documents like these scribbling from a young boy. Often, the only thing that survives from the past, perhaps because paper or writing medium in the past was generally precious, are official documents. It would be like having the IRS tax code survive the next 1,000 years, and nothing else. How dreary would that be for a future historian!

[rlmorel]

Hhahahahhahahahahahah!

[Sawdring]

It kind of reminds me of Braveheart when they are pretending to throw rocks at the English.

[Ted Grant]

And by “universality,” they don’t mean the whole universe.

[freepertoo]

They’re adorable doodles.

[bravo whiskey]

Cool. Alexander Nevsky fighting the German knights made into a film in 1938 by Eisenstein. Can use it in my Leningrad and Army Group North class in the fall

[PCPOET7]

a 15000 years from now they will be marveling at the crayon drawings found preserved some where.

[backwoods-engineer]

Exactly what I thought of when I read ‘Novgorod’.

[sauropod]

.

[Flick Lives]

There is something comforting in knowing 1,000 years ago, children were likely pretty much the same as they are today. Probably 1,000, or 10,000 years from our own time, it will be much the same.