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bglazer01/16/20259 repliesview on HN

Nice article about artifacts that make the past more immediate, that allow us to connect our experiences to people hundreds or thousands of years ago.

My favorite example is the writings of Onfim, who was a little boy in the 1200s in present day Russia whose scribbling and homework were exquisitely preserved on birch bark fragments. It’s so immediately recognizable as a little boy’s endearing doodles about knights and imaginary beasts, yet its 800 years old.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim


Replies

zehaeva01/16/2025

Similarly, when I read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius I was struck by how normal everything seemed. While he was an Emperor the everyday banality of what he talked about going through 2,000 years ago was amazing.

Humans really haven't changed that much at all.

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methyl01/16/2025

I’ve had similar feeling when realizing that the bells that we sometimes hear in old cities of Europe are exact same bells producing exact same sound as 1000 years ago

morkalork01/16/2025

I like the adorable animal shaped sippy cups for babies:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/science/prehistoric-baby-...

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internet_points01/17/2025

Or the rune-rods which were "the medieval snapchat" https://www.nrk.no/vestland/gamle_-norske-ord-for-kjonnsorga... (google translate isn't half bad on this article)

or a more PG version https://sprakprat.no/2017/06/22/middelalderkvinner-og-runeku... where a rune-rod simply says "Gyda says you have to come home" (I guess hubby had been out too late with his no-good friends?)

romanhn01/16/2025

Wow, haven't seen this before, thank you. Amazing that the writing can still be read by a modern reader (that said, really helps to know what it's supposed to say though). The note I found most relatable is the one with greetings to his classmate.

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thaumasiotes01/17/2025

I like the extreme modesty in the wikipedia article:

> One of the drawings features a knight on a horse, with Onfim's name written next to him, stabbing someone on the ground with a lance, with scholars speculating that Onfim pictured himself as the knight.

sriacha01/17/2025

Wonderful, here's another similar example I saw recently, 14000 year old cave art doodling by kids: https://www.science.org/content/article/enigmatic-cave-art-w...

edgarvaldes01/17/2025

Not as old, but I loved reading about this:

350 year old paper cuttings found under Sutton House floorboards go on display [0]

It really feels immediate

[0] https://museumsandheritage.com/advisor/posts/350-year-old-pa...

gunian01/17/2025

Kids had school 800 years ago? If he didn't work in the fields musta been rich

insert David Lynch quote about red ants

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