BIRCH-BARK LETTER "MOSCOW-4": THE INTERDISCIPLINARY CASESTUDY
The first publication of the new birch-bark letter of Moscow. The letter was found in 2015 by the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences excavations in Zaryadye, the waterfront area not far from the Kremlin. This urban area was the most densely populated over the 14th - 15th centuries. The occupational layers there are very wet and rich with the organic and metallic deposits. It helps to establish the exact date of the litter as the last quarter of the 14th century. This letter is the only example of the Moscow birch-bark “correspondence” following the rules of Novgorod the Great scribers. Also, the scriber was the very well trained in writing. The content of the letter - the explanations by the subordinate to the master of the failed attempt to go to the City of Kostroma. The travelers were returned from the road by the unknown persons (“Yuri with the mother”). The latters took from the author two sums of money (as a debt or tax?), in both cases expressed in silver (poltina) but, mainly, in furs (belka, namely a squirrel).