The Bullroarer Atlas

NOVG2026-001 - archaeological find

Medieval Novgorod (Rus')

Russia - Novgorod the Great (Sophia and Trade sides) - Eastern Europe

Function not recorded Candidate only

The object itself: wooden whirring lath from the Troitsky excavation, 13th-14th century, carved knobbed neck at one end and no central holes...
The object itself: wooden whirring lath from the Troitsky excavation, 13th-14th century, carved knobbed neck at one end and no central holes (НГМ КП 44022/304). Its companion find, the lancet blade from the Nikitinsky dig (НГМ КП 44219/381), appears among the atlas's representative images. © Новгородский музей-заповедник (НГМ КП 44022/304) Image source

Source term: жужжалка (museum catalog class)

жужжалка, 'buzzer,' is the museum's catalog class, from жужжать 'to buzz' — the word Russian collections apply loosely to whirled sound toys of both riggings.

Waterlogged excavations at medieval Novgorod preserved two thin wooden whirrers from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Each has a carved head or tang for attaching cord at one end and lacks the central holes typical of excavated twist-buzzers, making a swung bullroarer interpretation plausible but not proven.

Object
Two thin wooden blades with carved terminal tangs, excavated from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Novgorod contexts.
Function
Wooden whirrers probably rigged from an end cord; no performance or social use survives.
Map confidence
high - Troitsky excavation site, Lyudin konets, Sophia side — anchor for both finds; the Nikitinsky dig sits 1.3 km northeast on Olovyanka St., Trade side
Source location
НГМ КП 44022/304 (инв. А-195/304) and НГМ КП 44219/381 (инв. А-201/381)

View source Open this point on the interactive map