In the 1950s archeologists made a big discovery near the city of Novgorod, Russia: hundreds of manuscripts written on birch bark. Most of them were letters or notes, but among them was a series of unusual sketches. The sketches, remarkably well-preserved due to the anaerobic conditions of the soil, have a distinctive charm and childish fantasy.
The drawings belong to Onfim — we know this because one of the drawings features the name written next to a knight on a horse, stabbing someone on the ground with a lance. Researchers believe Onfim must have been six or seven by the way he was writing and drawing.
The boy lived in Novgorod, now known as Veliky Novgorod, which at the time was the capital of the Novgorod Republic. Novgorod in the 13th century was a thriving center of trade, culture, and learning. It was part of the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns. It also had an unusually high level of literacy. The educational system applied to both sexes and different classes, which was remarkable for the time.
So, Onfim was taking part in this educational system and was practicing his alphabet, repeating syllables, and writing texts that would be familiar to him (oftentimes, these texts would be religious psalms, which were commonly studied at the time).
Overall, archaeologists found seventeen birch bark items linked to Onfim. Five of these are only text, but twelve have illustrations. And this is where it gets really fun.
Onfim’s illustrations include pictures of knights, horses, arrows, and foes. In particular, one image of “himself, disguised as a fantastic animal” features an imaginary creature with a long neck, curly tail, and pointy ears. There’s a text box saying “I am a wild beast” (the text in the box says “Greetings from Onfim to Danilo”, likely a friend or classmate of Onfim). Curiously, the fingers on the characters he draws vary, suggesting that the boy hadn’t yet learned how to count.
Onfim’s doodles provide a window into the daily life of Novgorodians. The depiction of horses and knights suggests the importance of military readiness and the valorization of warriors — with a healthy dose of youthful imagination. Meanwhile, the presence of educational materials among his drawings indicates that literacy and learning were valued. The simplicity of Onfim’s tools — birch bark and a stylus — highlights the resourcefulness and practicality of medieval education.
However, the significance of Onfim’s drawings extends beyond their immediate charm. They are invaluable to historians and archaeologists because they offer a rare, personal glimpse into the life of a medieval child. Unlike other historical records, which often focus on adults and significant events, these doodles provide a bottom-up perspective of history. They highlight the universality of childhood and the timeless nature of imagination and learning.
The preservation of Onfim’s drawings was fortuitous. The anaerobic conditions of Novgorod’s soil prevented the decay of the birch bark. Today, these drawings are carefully conserved and studied. Interpreting them requires a multidisciplinary approach, combining archaeology, history, linguistics, and art history. Scholars analyze not just the content of the drawings but also the context in which they were created, offering deeper insight into medieval Novgorodian society.
Ultimately, the drawings of Onfim from 13th-century Novgorod are more than mere scribbles. They are a window into the world of a young boy. They remind us of the universality of childhood and the timelessness of human creativity. Onfim’s birch-bark sketches, preserved through centuries, are one of the most special artifacts from the medieval world.
