Editing Old Novgorod dialect (section)

==History==
The first birch bark letter, called ''N1'',{{efn|The ''N'' stands for Novgorod}} was found in the city of [[Veliky Novgorod|Novgorod]] on July 26, 1951, by Nina Fedorovna Akulova.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xi}} It was written in what is now called Old Novgorodian.{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=ix}} 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}} Nearly all others have been found in nearby cities, including 49 in [[Staraya Russa]] and 19 in [[Torzhok]].{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|pp=19–20}} Among the most notable letters found is ''N202'' discovered in 1956, which was written by a young boy called [[Onfim]] who lived in Novgorod and is dated to the 13th century.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xii}}

In Russian, the study of birch bark letters is informally known as ''berestologiya''.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=xii}} It is unknown how many birch bark letters have gone undiscovered; less than three percent of the city of Novgorod has been systematically excavated.{{sfn|Schaeken|2018|p=22}} V.L. Janin, 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}}

Almost all of them were written with [[stylus]]es of [[bronze]] and [[iron]], and never [[ink]]. The letters were preserved due to the [[swamp]]y soil which isolated them from [[oxygen]]. Many letters are found buried amidst the layers under streets which were previously paved with logs.