The Bullroarer Atlas

NOVG2026-001 - archaeological find

Novgorod whirring laths, Troitsky and Nikitinsky excavations (13th-14th c.)

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

Archaeological date13th–14th centuries AD

Function not recorded Candidate only

The object itself: wooden whirring lath from the Troitsky excavation, 13th-14th century.
The object itself: wooden whirring lath from the Troitsky excavation, 13th-14th century. 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
Page references

НГМ КП 44022/304 (инв. А-195/304) and НГМ КП 44219/381 (инв. А-201/381)

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