Igor P. Kukushkin,* Aleksey A. Gippius,** Andrey A. Zaliznyak***

*Autonomous Cultural Institution of the Vologda Oblast ‘Vologdarestavratsiya,’ Vologda, Russia (gorodkip@mail.ru)
**National Research University ‘High School of Economy,’ Moscow, Russia (agippius@mail.ru)
***Institute of Slavic Studies RAS, Moscow, Russia

Keywords: archaeology, Vologda, the Vologda site, first birchbark letter, excavations of 2015.

The paper publishes the first Vologda letter written on birchbark discovered during the excavations at the Vologda site in 2015. The letter dates to the early 14th century AD and is the earliest written document of this area.