A unique experiment is taking place in the Moscow region: a resident of the capital voluntarily went to the early Middle Ages for six months
Without a time machine, he “dived” into the 10th century and has been on the recreated farm from the time of Ancient Rus' for the fifth month.
24-year-old Pavel Sapozhnikov tests on himself the hypotheses of scientists about the life and way of life of our ancestors. Fire extracts from flint, heats the furnace in a black way, grinds flour on millstones, bakes bread, milks goats, puts snares on hares. He sleeps on the floorboards with skins. He walks in a canvas shirt, a sheepskin coat, leather boots and windings - onuchs.
Under the terms of the research experiment "Alone in the Past", the ancient Russian resident Sapozhnikov is forbidden to communicate with the outside world. Doctors and experts visit him only once a month.
Special correspondent "MK" did not fail to take advantage of the next "open day".
"Goy thou!"
The organizers keep the location of the farm a secret. Only in the evening, on the eve of the visit, we receive a map and landmarks of the place of a single historical wintering.
It would seem that 44 kilometers from the capital, but the place is quite secluded and isolated.
Experts, doctors and psychologists came to Pavel for an open day to monitor his condition. But even on this day, the territory of the farm is closed to the public.
Fallen snow covered the wattle fence. The courtyard itself has been thoroughly cleaned. In the depths - a squat building, the roof is covered with skins and turf, the cracks between the logs are caulked with moss, the door is insulated with felt.
The owner comes out, greets, putting his hand to his heart. Pavel Sapozhnikov is wearing a thin sheepskin coat, canvas pants, cloth windings - onuchi. We feel like wanderers who have made a stop in another era. It seems that we are about to hear: "Thou art a goy ... May the gods of our family be with us in sorrow, and even more so in joy." But no, the swooping gang of journalists returns the hermit hero to the 21st century, where “cut” is already January, “vyya” is the neck, “bry” is the eyebrow, and “eat” is nothing more than the verb “is”.
Frost - minus 20. The wind, like a whip, whips in the face. Having got out of warm cars and ran across a vast field, we are shivering from the cold. The Hermit Hero is so hot that he took off his mittens. His hands and face are evenly tanned.
Usually I go covered in soot, it helps not to burn out in the sun, - Pavel smiles. - Soot is an excellent natural antiseptic, as well as a specific "varnish" that protects wood and all objects from dampness and fungus.
There is nothing of a feral person in his appearance.
Everyone is interested in what became the most difficult test for the hero. He, without hesitation, answers: "Loneliness." There was a time when Paul caught himself thinking that he really wanted someone to knock on his door. Released after 20 days.
Friends note that Pasha has lost a lot of weight. The hero confirms: “I used to wear the 54th size, weighed 112 kilograms, now I freely wrap a sheepskin coat of the 48th size on myself.”
Please share your daily diet. “A full hot meal - once a day. It is usually a mushroom, grain or lentil stew with onions and garlic. In the morning I make a compote of apples and honey. During the day I bake cakes, eat eggs, nuts, drink milk,” the hermit shares with us.
For friends Pavel Sapozhnikov - Boot. In the days of Ancient Rus', people did not have surnames. They were replaced by nicknames. In the X century Boot could be surrounded by Balagur, Chernava, Elder, Veshnyak, Piskun or Metelitsa.
The old Russian resident is 24 years old, in the past he is a Muscovite. He was a student at the prestigious Sechenov Medical University, specialized in disaster medicine. He dreamed that he would save humanity from critical situations. But, after completing four courses, he ... dropped out. According to Pavel, “he became disillusioned with the state apparatus, and it made no sense to work in medicine not for the state.” Then he came to the club "Ratobor", the era of the Middle Ages turned out to be more interesting for him than the current democracy. Boot became interested in reconstruction, acquired a beard, began to help in holding festivals, mastered carpentry, blacksmithing and tailoring. He lived in the fields for a long time, sacredly observed all the important Orthodox fasts, up to the complete refusal of food. A year ago, together with a teammate, I was going to buy an UAZ in order to wave to the ancient monuments in Uzbekistan. But I didn't find my passport. Later, when Sapozhnikov was already on the project, the technical team, while dismantling the change house, found the designated document.
However, now the ancient Russian resident does not need it.
"Requires Authentic Cattle"
The experiment began on September 14, 2013. Preparation for it took about a year. First, in accordance with archaeological finds and ethnographic data, an ancient Russian farm of the 10th century was built.
Moreover, in the construction of a one-yard village, similar to the one that the Slavic settlers set up, the same technologies were used as in the 10th century.
Under one roof there was a residential part, a barn and a barn. “The design of all buildings, the methods of connecting elements and the construction of roofs are fully consistent with their historical prototypes,” says Aleksey Ovcharenko, the initiator of the Odin in the Past project. - In some cases, due to time constraints, a modern instrument was used. But the vast majority of the work was carried out with authentic copies of the tools used in Ancient Rus'.
But, for example, it was not possible to find a team that would make wells in an authentic way. I had to make an indulgence and dig with concrete rings, without a log house.”
The male part of the "fighters" helped to build a house and a bathhouse, the female part - to knead the clay. By the way, Pavel's girlfriend, Irina, crushed the clay for the stove with her heels.
On the advice of the architect, so that the premises would not rot, the farm was taken thirty meters from the forest.
However, they did not surround the courtyard with earthen ramparts, as in ancient times. Enemies who could take Sapozhnikov's farm by storm were not foreseen. But in order to protect the goats and chickens from wild animals, the estate was surrounded by a wicker fence.
Inside, along the perimeter, there is a bathhouse, a smithy, a hayloft, a bread oven with a canopy, a smokehouse, and a glacier for storing perishable products.
Pavel's living quarters are small, about eight square meters. Inside there are shelves, a stove-heater and an ash shelf with cups, bowls, jars, pots, flasks - everything that is needed in everyday life.
Sapozhnikov had to wash with ashes. For this, he was provided with a tub and troughs.
Pavel had to prepare firewood, mend clothes, sew new ones, disappear for a long time in the forest in search of animal prey, engage in fishing and gathering.
“Into the past” he was sent with an impressive set of tools: three knives, 6 axes, an adze, a bow without arrows, 4 arrowheads, a pernach, a spear, a scraper, two pairs of forged scissors, an awl, 10 forged needles.
They even stocked a fine bone comb in case we had to comb out the lice.
In order to collect a dowry for Sapogu in the Middle Ages, all these shoulder frames and panyags, “fighters” made copies of things from Ancient Rus', studied historical analogues and finds. The consultants were researchers from the State Historical Museum and the Novgorod Museum.
Pavel himself sewed 5 pairs of shoes, 4 linen shirts and trousers, a woolen shirt, a hood and a raincoat, a sheepskin coat, prepared 5 pairs of windings, 2 tashkas, a blanket made of sheepskins and a lizhnik.
From the finds from the layers of ancient Russian cities, tombs and rural burials, it followed that clothes in those days were sewn from fabric woven from sheep's wool and plant fibers - flax and hemp.
It's time to stock up on food supplies. Again, according to the conditions of the experiment, it was necessary to eat only those products that were known to the inhabitants of the 10th century. So no potatoes! Its appearance in Russia is associated with the name of Peter I, who only at the end of the 17th century sent a bag of tubers to the capital for distribution to the provinces for cultivation from Holland. Also, there were no tomatoes in the 10th century. And, for example, the same corn will be discovered only 500 years later by Columbus together with America. Some products, like carrots, existed then, but the varieties had changed so much after selection that it was not possible to use them either.
The Hermit Hero's basic food basket was based on grain. The barn was filled with: 200 kg of millet, 400 kg of oats, 80 kg of rye, 150 kg of barley, 150 kg of wheat.
Lard, dried fish, dried mushrooms and berries were prepared, as well as linseed oil, honey, nuts, apples, cabbage, pumpkin, onions, garlic and crackers.
When they began to count vitamins and minerals, it became clear that one could not do without milk and eggs. Four goats and a dozen hens with a rooster drove into the farm.
And what was required was by no means fattened thoroughbred cattle, but authentic. It was difficult to find an unformat: thin, lean animals, which farmers usually call "wretched".
Together with the snow-white dog Snow, Pavel Sapozhnikov went to the Middle Ages.
The hermit hero was supposed to start a video blog. In the evening, a camera will be set up at a designated place. Turning it on, Pavel will tell how his day went, share his feelings.
An external observer, colleague and friend of Pavel - Sergey Brodar, will settle half a kilometer from the historical wintering, who will observe the farm from the tower, describe on the site the life of the ancient Russian settler Sapoga.
The evacuation of the hero will be carried out only in case of a real threat to life: in case of a broken leg, blood poisoning, severe fever or mental disorder. The signal for this was to be the sound of a horn.
This is what a hermitage looks like.
"Instead of a toothbrush - a spruce branch"
From the very beginning, things didn't go as planned. The house built on the eve of the project sank, gaps formed between the logs. Every day, the hermit hero spent a lot of time caulking them.
The stove-heater smoked and could not completely warm up the modest dwelling. When burning in black, problems with ventilation were revealed. One single window was unable to draw out the smoke from the stove.
The bread oven that the "fighters" built on the street under a canopy did not have time to dry properly due to the long August rains. In addition, a large amount of firewood was required to warm it up. And then it turned out that the hop starter does not cope with raising the dough. Pavel switched to unleavened dough. He took flour, salt, water, a little honey. He made cakes with a diameter of 10-12 cm, a thickness of 1-1.5 cm. He baked them on coals in a home oven, instead of a frying pan he used shards of broken pots.
Flour was made from a mixture of wheat, barley and rye. He ground the grain mixture with the help of two millstones that were inserted into the barrel. To obtain the desired degree of crushing, 8 milling and 2 sieving were required, then 2 more milling and sieving.
The barn was not ventilated, which was a big mistake. Due to dampness, mold appeared on the walls. The grain began to germinate in places, the dried fish went bad. Yes, the mice won. And the cat, who was entrusted with the fight against rodents, did not show the slightest interest in them.
The autumn was also protracted, it rained until January. Everything in the house was soaked with moisture. The smokehouse turned out to be flooded, pottery was broken, the only staple (a large knife with two transverse handles for planing) drowned in the well, both awls broke, the shoes sewn with linen threads crawled. The boot had to be altered all four existing pairs of primitive shoes. Here the ancient spring scissors came in handy, a piece of wax for waxing the thread so that it would better pass through the skin. The hero's leather shoes got wet, Pasha's feet were constantly damp. No impregnation helped, be it oil or fat. Then Pavel adapted himself to use straw as socks and insoles. By the end of the day, I dried several pairs of used pressed insoles, and the next day they were back in business.
The muddy clay in the yard looked like a skating rink. One day Pavel slipped, fell and cut his finger on his hand. I had to get stitches. One of the forged needles and a harsh thread were used. The bleeding was stopped, but the suture festered. The boot steamed the wound in the bath, and things started to get better.
Daylight was limited. Having made a notch in the calendar, the hero hurried to milk the goats, clean the barn, store and chop firewood, cook food, wash, repair clothes ... In general, it’s easy to guess: Pasha’s enthusiasm was seriously tested.
Cut off from civilization, Boot began to talk with goats, whom he called all Glash, and a rooster. However, he did not address chickens, did not consider them worthy of attention.
It got dark early. There was no TV, no Internet, no books. The boot began to sing. Modern songs did not work. The soul asked for historical, dull and lingering. Most often, Pavel sang military songs that sounded at the front. I suddenly remembered the one that was written 200 years ago: “The Tsar gathers his children ...” From the dimly lit house, lit by a pair of lights that “worked” on linseed oil, I heard: “When we were at war ...”
Boot had his own war. He had to fight with apathy, longing, rolled out of nowhere with his own anger.
Life in Ancient Rus' turned out to be harsh. Instead of racks with computer disks - an ash shelf, instead of a carpet on the wall - a cowhide, instead of a lighter - flint, flint and tinder, instead of a toothbrush - a spruce branch, instead of toilet paper - dry moss.
For the sake of the project, Pasha had to quit smoking. Scientists say the food chain has changed. Before the experiment, his favorite dishes were buckwheat, rice, and meat. Now I had to get used to grains, lentils and goat's milk.
Food stocks were melting, but the hermit did not go well with fishing. Only once did Pavel manage to catch two roaches and cook an ear. Small game, hares and squirrels, were also in no hurry to fall into snares.
“I wanted gin - I put the mash”
Troubles rained down on Paul one after another. Several times he fell ill, lay in a fever, drank herbal decoctions. On one of those nights, a fire almost broke out. From one of the lights, which Sapog did not put out even at night, a spark fell on the nearby wax, and the lid of the barrel caught fire. Feeling the smell of smoke in time, Pavel put out the flame.
The next day, I woke up to a ringing silence. Dawn was breaking, but there was still no cock crow. It soon became clear that the rooster had been dragged away by a fox. At the edge of the forest, the hermit then found a bunch of feathers - all that was left of his beloved kochet.
The dog, which was supposed to guard the farm, had escaped by that time and settled in the technical zone, where, undoubtedly, it was more satisfying.
And the red-haired cheat, as they say, got a taste.
When Boot was lying with a temperature, she dug into the chicken coop and dragged the chicken away. The victim of the fox was Pasha's most beloved laying hen, which gave the most eggs.
Goats soon also became one less. Having switched from compound feed and antibiotics to old Russian food, they began to give only a glass of milk. One day, the owner forgot to close the door to the closet tightly and, returning with water from the well, found the whole horned company that relish destroyed the stocked cabbage, grain, dried fish ... Expelling the impudent one from the room, Pasha broke several ribs of one of them. The animal had to be slaughtered. Goat meat was enough for him for a month. The melted interior fat went to fuel for lamps.
There was no snow or frost. Ice fishing has been postponed. The boot had to catch tits and sparrows. An inverted basket was used, raised above the ground with a peg on a string. The carcasses of the birds were small, but there were enough pairs of birds for a pot of broth for the hermit.
On the 111th day of the experiment, Boots slaughtered the first chicken. The fact that she did not rush was determined by a real veterinarian: by a hard stomach and a narrow sacrum. When I plucked a chicken, there was no limit to disappointment. Farm poultry was very different from store broilers. In terms of the amount of meat, her legs were similar to the wings of modern 45-day-old chickens grown on soy and special top dressing. Meat on the breast - no more than a centimeter. Game and only!
But there were also pleasant surprises. On one of his happy days, Pavel accidentally discovered 12 eggs at once. One of the unlucky hens was rushing outside, in a bread oven. I decided to cook a chic omelet with the addition of milk, flour and green onions. Onions germinated for a week in pots with water. A culinary breakthrough took place, but without green feathers. The goat ate the onion sprouts.
According to Pasha, he constantly wanted meat, and he was also terribly short of fruit. From the remains of apples, he cooked stew, baked unleavened cakes with filling.
Once, when he was making tea from juniper, Boot was terribly hungry for gin. I decided to “taste intoxicating” and put the mash on honey and apples with the addition of pieces of yeast dough.
After all, our ancestors were not teetotalers.
Modern man is very corrupt. He takes heat, light, cooked food for granted, - says Pavel. - Here, on the farm, I have developed a completely different attitude towards those products that are sold in abundance in supermarkets. I began to understand how much work was invested in growing the same grain, preserving it, grinding it, baking bread and delivering it to the buyer.
On the first day after the completion of the project, are you going to sit down at the Internet, TV, mobile phone?
Now I'm thinking, should I get rid of my cell phone altogether?
It is felt that the X century has already left its mark on our hero.
The last open day has passed. The organizers decided that the two remaining months of the Boot should spend in strict isolation.
On March 22, on the day of the equinox and the beginning of the new year according to the calendar of the Slavs, the popular science, socio-psychological, historical and archaeological experiment will come to its logical conclusion. Scientists will sum up: what social and psychological changes have occurred in the personality of the hero. How did the rejection of constant communication, conveniences, modern technologies and devices affect him? Scientists hope to put the results of the experiment into scientific circulation.
Irina Anatolyevna Sapozhnikova, Pavel's mother, whom he calls mother, is going to meet her son on the field after the end of the project with a hearty dinner and a pie. She did not put up obstacles when Pasha was going "into the past." Irina Anatolyevna believes: "Everyone has their own way in life." Even if it leads to the Middle Ages, where you will have to try on the life of the ancient Slavs, take a lot from the new reality and live with it in the present.
A risky experiment continues in the Moscow region - the reenactor Pasha-Sapog lives according to the technologies of the 9th century, without electricity and central heating. He has already survived the rainy autumn and the invasion of foxes and is slowly coping with the frosty winter, waiting with horror for the end of the trials: Pavel does not want to return to Moscow.
Dirty skinny star
"People who say: "Oh, I wish I lived in the tenth century! Or in the seventeenth: balls, noblemen… "they simply do not understand what they are talking about. Now is the best time. The most convenient time for life. And life in the IX century is a nightmare. People then lived sadly, hard and not for long, "- such a chief the conclusion was made for himself by the reenactor Pavel Sapozhnikov, nicknamed Sapog, who decided on the desperate project "One in the Past".
In September last year, he retired to a farm in the vicinity of Khotkovo, near Moscow, to live there without the Internet and many other benefits of modern civilization.
Life of the 9th century is recreated to the smallest detail - even clothing and products must correspond to that era, so no plastic buttons and potatoes, discovered by Columbus along with America.
But the difficulty is not only in the absence of electricity. "Alone in the Past" is also a psychological experiment. To avoid the temptations of the modern world, Paul does not associate with anyone but his chickens and goats. Unless curious mushroom pickers or a drunken wedding wander into his farm.
Only once a month, Pavel leaves his farm to talk to journalists, as well as a doctor and a psychologist who are monitoring his condition. At the appointed hour, a dozen cells and a crowd of journalists are waiting for the "hermit" - there is no less excitement around Pavel than around the release of Khodorkovsky or Platon Lebedev from prison.
When he finally appears from the depths of the farm, he is greeted with applause - during the months of his "imprisonment" Pavel became a real star, his experiment interested both the blogosphere and Western scientific TV channels, not to mention the Russian media.
Changes in Pavel are also noticeable to a non-specialist: he is smeared with soot, because he drowns "in a black way", and the house is always smoky ("it's nothing, soot is a good antiseptic," Pavel does not lose optimism, and a smile flashes on his grubby face) . Pavel heats the stove once a day, in the afternoon - this is enough to keep the house warm until the morning.
At the same time, he prepares dinner for himself - as a rule, this is a stew of cereals. Pavel's diet is rather meager, because, according to the conditions of his hermitage, it is forbidden for him to bring new products, there is no one to hunt in this area, and for some reason the fish do not bite. In addition, due to the rainy autumn, many of his stocks simply became moldy - Pasha lost part of the cereal.
However, at Christmas, Pavel treated himself to an apple pie, which he himself prepared. In the morning, Pavel adds fresh eggs and goat's milk to his diet.
“Everyone has their own associations with the word“ food ”, says Pavel. “Personally, I have rice, meat and potatoes. I don’t have any of this. There was little meat in store, and I ate it quickly, but the rest is not for historical reasons So I'm sitting here without food." He admitted that the first thing he would do when the project was over was get into a hot bath and then eat dumplings.
Hence the second change in Paul: he lost several sizes.
Goat and other insults
What Pasha really complains about is the forced idleness in the evenings, when it is already too dark outside to do anything, and there is nothing to do at home.
“I lie, dream, sing or turn millstones to grind flour,” Pavel describes his typical bachelor party. He has already covered all the songs he knows: from folk and Soviet to modern rock. Fortunately, there are no historical restrictions on cultural baggage. “I miss music a lot, there’s not enough music here,” the experimenter admits. “But maybe I won’t use the phone after the project.”
Pavel admits that there is a severe lack of communication - "not just a woman, but in general any person is missing." He has to talk to the goats, whom, for simplicity, Pasha calls everyone Glash.
“Recently I retell Maxim Gorky’s Song of the Falcon to the goats. At first they stood, chewed, and then didn’t listen to the end, turned around and left. I was offended by them and didn’t talk to them for three days. I’m offended by goats… And I started talking to them again,” recalls Pavel.
Psychologist Denis Zubov, who observes the hermit, states: Pavel complains of loneliness, as well as the aggression that flares up in him at the slightest pretext - one autumn, for example, he severely beat a goat, which broke several clay bowls, leaving Pavel without dishes. Pasha responded by breaking several of her ribs. The goat had to be slaughtered, but Glasha's meat diversified Pasha's diet for a while. Pavel put a goat's head on a pole to "drive away evil spirits" and play with the remaining goats "in butts".
In fact, the decision to "live in the 9th century" is simply a desire taken to its logical conclusion to restore the reenactor's favorite era. First, a person restores costumes, studies history - and at some point decides to "move" to his favorite era completely.
What kind of people these are can be judged, for example, by their pages on VKontakte. The director of "Ratobortsev" Alexey Ovcharenko analyzes an old miniature with pagan Bulgarians. “It’s time to return to the question that has been tormenting me for several years: are the caftans open or not. Everyone thinks that the caftans are open, but I’m sure that they aren’t ... What will the public say? What are the horizontal stripes on yellow - traces of the firmware?
According to Ovcharenko, who initiated the experiment, the project cost about 3 million rubles. Part of this amount (small) Pavel Sapozhnikov will receive as a salary.
Boots himself admits: now he has finally adapted to the "life of the 9th century" and entered the rhythm of the experiment. Fortunately, the weather is good: sunny and dry. It's not cold at all in Pavel's hut. "I like it here. The farm is good, the goats don't get sick, the chickens lay... What else do you need?" he says.
Pavel admits that he already has a poor idea of what he will do after the end of the experiment, which is calculated until the day of the spring equinox on March 22. "Here I go out, you journalists will arrive. We will talk, and then what? Then, probably, I will return to my house again. And in the morning I will wake up - I will have to milk the goats and feed the chickens."
After the end of the project, he expects to stay here, at the site of the experiment, where the "Warriors" have various historical attractions - you can visit a yurt or tent, ride a camel or a dog sled. Pavel plans to continue working in reenactment attractions, albeit without such isolation from the outside world.
What Pasha definitely does not want is a return to Moscow, even though he is a native Muscovite, and his parents and bride are waiting for him in the capital. "No, in Moscow everything is too evil, fast and cruel," he says.
Fortunately, professional reenactors have the opportunity to stay somewhere between the worlds, choosing the most pleasant from each era.
An unexpected, large-scale and completely insane reconstruction project started this weekend in the Khotkovo district in the Moscow region. Many to whom I told about the reconstruction of certain historical eras asked me “Why all this?”, Others made comments like “The mummers are walking around, there is nothing to do.” In fact, many reenactors are trying to restore history, feel the life of our ancestors and tell others interesting facts from the past from their own experience. For example, how quickly do leather shoes wear in everyday life? How to store grain and other supplies for the winter without using modern technology? We know the answers to such questions from archaeological finds and the conclusions that scientists draw from them. But these are all theories. How was it in practice?
The project "One in the Past", organized by the reconstruction agency Ratobor, is designed to answer many questions related to the life of a person who lived in the 10th century. A year of careful preparation and study of historical materials made it possible to prepare the ground for immersing a person in the conditions of that period. The volunteer who volunteered to become the hero of the experiment was the reenactor Pavel Sapozhnikov (Boot). For more than 7 months he will have to live alone in difficult conditions, using only those tools that were available in the Early Middle Ages in Rus'.
Pavel will live in his small farm with a house, a bathhouse and several outbuildings. He is allowed to go outside only for hunting or collecting necessary things in the forest. Any communication with people is prohibited for greater purity of the experiment. 
To my question about the safety of the participant and protection from all sorts of ill-wishers, they answered me: "So he's not alone, he has a Snowball." 
There is a well on the farm. How effective it is in winter, time will tell. 
Going for bread to the nearest store will not work. Now for this you have to grind flour, put the dough and bake the bread yourself. And do not forget that a damp autumn is ahead, and winter follows it, you still need to be able to save grain. Mice, by the way, are no longer particularly tuned to conserve stocks. 
The house was built according to the descriptions found in the books. The use of logs in the construction of the roof, together with the main root raised up, made it possible to keep its heavy covering on the roof. I'll tell you more about this a little later. 
The house itself is divided into three parts: a barn, a residential part and a barn. The living area is a very small room, with a bed and a small stove. Now it is very difficult to navigate through it without hitting the supplies harvested for the winter. 
Pets live in the barn, which will help Pavel survive the winter. 
These voracious goats will most likely not be alive by the end of the project. As other reenactors who came to see Pavel back in time joked, it is possible that Snowball will “escape” before spring. 
While Pavel was preparing for the official reception of guests and the launch of the project, we were given a tour of the new site of the fighters. 
The guys have really big plans. Recently, many eco- and ethno-settlements have appeared, where they are trying to recreate the atmosphere of the past. Here the goal is completely different - to try to completely restore history. Any reenactor can try to settle on the field, the only condition is authenticity. The dwelling can be built only from the materials available in the ancient era and with the help of authentic tools. Even the delivery of materials is planned to be limited to carts, no cars.
These dugouts and semi-dugouts were built according to the descriptions found, but non-compliance with the construction technology due to haste led to the fact that after heavy rains they were completely flooded with groundwater. Whether they will survive the winter is a big question mark. On their example, you can see how the roof was covered in ancient times. Birch bark was laid out on the boards, which prevented rotting and was a good waterproofing agent, and earth was poured on top, the purpose of which was thermal insulation.
In the background is an Irish house. The cunning Irishman did not dig into the ground, as was done in Eastern Europe, so his house is warm and dry. But even he is not immune from surprises, many secrets of old buildings are lost and they can be restored only by trial and error. 
After an interesting tour of the nascent site, we returned to see Pavel off. Friends have prepared for him a lot of gifts that will come in handy in the test.
First and foremost, of course, is the food. They gave everything from berries and honey... 
and ending with meat... 
and fish. 
The same “Irishman” presented a whole set for the forge and metal, from which Pavel could make himself hunting weapons and tools. 
Physical help is very necessary, but without moral support it is also difficult.
Therefore, Pavel was presented with an ideal and proven interlocutor. 
Winter is coming and warm clothes will be needed. 
The coat is too small, but everyone agreed that very soon it will be just right for our hero. 
It's time to say goodbye. All friends gathered together at the start of this, without exaggeration, historic event. 
The project will run until March 21, 2014. Pavel will be watched and regularly written about his life. Paul himself will sometimes have access to the Internet to talk about his life.
You can follow the project on the website
Svetlana Samodelova Alone in the past - a warrior!
A unique experiment is taking place in the Moscow region: a resident of the capital voluntarily went to the early Middle Ages for six months
Without a time machine, he “dived” into the 10th century and has been on the recreated farm from the time of Ancient Rus' for the fifth month.
24-year-old Pavel Sapozhnikov tests on himself the hypotheses of scientists about the life and way of life of our ancestors. Fire extracts from flint, heats the furnace in a black way, grinds flour on millstones, bakes bread, milks goats, puts snares on hares. He sleeps on the floorboards with skins. He walks in a canvas shirt, a sheepskin coat, leather boots and windings - onuchs.
Under the terms of the research experiment "Alone in the Past", the ancient Russian resident Sapozhnikov is forbidden to communicate with the outside world. Doctors and experts visit him only once a month.
Special correspondent "MK" did not fail to take advantage of the next "open day".
"Goy thou!"
The organizers keep the location of the farm a secret. Only in the evening, on the eve of the visit, we receive a map and landmarks of the place of a single historical wintering.
It would seem that 44 kilometers from the capital, but the place is quite secluded and isolated.
Experts, doctors and psychologists came to Pavel for an open day to monitor his condition. But even on this day, the territory of the farm is closed to the public.
Fallen snow covered the wattle fence. The courtyard itself has been thoroughly cleaned. In the depths there is a squat building, the roof is covered with skins and sod, the cracks between the logs are caulked with moss, the door is insulated with felt.
The owner comes out, greets, putting his hand to his heart. Pavel Sapozhnikov is wearing a thin sheepskin coat, canvas pants, cloth windings - onuchi. We feel like wanderers who have made a stop in another era. It seems that we are about to hear: "Thou art a goy ... May the gods of our family be with us in sorrow, and even more so in joy." But no, the swooping gang of journalists returns the hermit hero to the 21st century, where “cut” is already January, “vyya” is the neck, “bry” is the eyebrow, and “eat” is nothing more than the verb “is”.
Frost - minus 20. The wind, like a whip, whips in the face. Having got out of warm cars and ran across a vast field, we are shivering from the cold. The Hermit Hero is so hot that he took off his mittens. His hands and face are evenly tanned.
“Usually I go covered in soot, it helps not to burn out in the sun,” Pavel smiles. - Soot is an excellent natural antiseptic, as well as a specific "lacquer" that protects wood and all objects from dampness and fungus.
There is nothing of a feral person in his appearance.
Everyone is interested in what became the most difficult test for the hero. He, without hesitation, answers: "Loneliness." There was a time when Paul caught himself thinking that he really wanted someone to knock on his door. Released after 20 days.
Friends note that Pasha has lost a lot of weight. The hero confirms: “I used to wear the 54th size, weighed 112 kilograms, now I freely wrap a sheepskin coat of the 48th size on myself.”
Please share your daily diet. “A full-fledged hot meal - once a day. It is usually a mushroom, grain or lentil stew with onions and garlic. In the morning I make a compote of apples and honey. During the day I bake cakes, eat eggs, nuts, drink milk,” the hermit shares with us.
For friends, Pavel Sapozhnikov - Boot. In the days of Ancient Rus', people did not have surnames. They were replaced by nicknames. In the X century Boot could be surrounded by Balagur, Chernava, Elder, Veshnyak, Piskun or Metelitsa.
The old Russian resident is 24 years old, in the past he was a Muscovite. He was a student at the prestigious Sechenov Medical University, specialized in disaster medicine. He dreamed that he would save humanity from critical situations. But, after completing four courses, he ... dropped out. According to Pavel, “he became disillusioned with the state apparatus, and it made no sense to work in medicine not for the state.” Then he came to the club "Ratobor", the era of the Middle Ages turned out to be more interesting for him than the current democracy. Boot became interested in reconstruction, acquired a beard, began to help in holding festivals, mastered carpentry, blacksmithing and tailoring. He lived in the fields for a long time, sacredly observed all the important Orthodox fasts, up to the complete refusal of food. A year ago, together with a teammate, I was going to buy an UAZ in order to wave to the ancient monuments in Uzbekistan. But I didn't find my passport. Later, when Sapozhnikov was already on the project, the technical team, while dismantling the change house, found the designated document.
However, now the ancient Russian resident does not need it.
"Requires Authentic Cattle"
The experiment began on September 14, 2013. Preparation for it took about a year. First, in accordance with archaeological finds and ethnographic data, an ancient Russian farm of the 10th century was built.
Moreover, in the construction of a one-yard village, similar to the one that the Slavic settlers set up, the same technologies were used as in the 10th century.
Under one roof there was a residential part, a barn and a barn. “The design of all buildings, the methods of connecting elements and the arrangement of roofs are fully consistent with their historical prototypes,” says Aleksey Ovcharenko, the initiator of the One in the Past project. - In some cases, due to time constraints, a modern tool was used. But the vast majority of the work was carried out with authentic copies of the tools used in Ancient Rus'.
But, for example, it was not possible to find a team that would make wells in an authentic way. I had to make an indulgence and dig with concrete rings, without a log house.”
The male part of the "fighters" helped to build a house and a bathhouse, the female part - to knead the clay. By the way, Pavel's girlfriend, Irina, crushed the clay for the stove with her heels.
On the advice of the architect, so that the premises would not rot, the farm was taken thirty meters from the forest.
However, they did not surround the courtyard with earthen ramparts, as in ancient times. Enemies who could take Sapozhnikov's farm by storm were not foreseen. But in order to protect the goats and chickens from wild animals, the estate was surrounded by a wicker fence.
Inside, along the perimeter, there is a bathhouse, a smithy, a hayloft, a bread oven with a canopy, a smokehouse, and a glacier for storing perishable products.
Pavel's living quarters are small, about eight square meters. Inside there are shelves, a stove-heater and an ash shelf with cups, bowls, lids, pots, flasks - everything that is needed in everyday life.
Sapozhnikov had to wash with ashes. For this, he was provided with a tub and troughs.
Pavel had to prepare firewood, mend clothes, sew new ones, disappear for a long time in the forest in search of animal prey, engage in fishing and gathering.
“Into the past” he was sent with an impressive set of tools: three knives, 6 axes, an adze, a bow without arrows, 4 arrowheads, a pernach, a spear, a scraper, two pairs of forged scissors, an awl, 10 forged needles.
They even stocked a fine bone comb in case we had to comb out the lice.
In order to collect a dowry for Sapogu in the Middle Ages, all these shoulder frames and panyags, “fighters” made copies of things from Ancient Rus', studied historical analogues and finds. The consultants were researchers from the State Historical Museum and the Novgorod Museum.
Pavel himself sewed 5 pairs of shoes, 4 linen shirts and trousers, a woolen shirt, a hood and a raincoat, a sheepskin coat, prepared 5 pairs of windings, 2 tashkas, a blanket made of sheepskins and a lizhnik.
From the finds from the layers of ancient Russian cities, tombs and rural burials, it followed that clothes in those days were sewn from fabric woven from sheep's wool and plant fibers - flax and hemp.
It's time to stock up on food supplies. Again, according to the conditions of the experiment, it was necessary to eat only those products that were known to the inhabitants of the 10th century. So no potatoes! Its appearance in Russia is associated with the name of Peter I, who only at the end of the 17th century sent a bag of tubers to the capital for distribution to the provinces for cultivation from Holland. Also, there were no tomatoes in the 10th century. And, for example, the same corn will be discovered only 500 years later by Columbus together with America. Some products, like carrots, existed then, but the varieties had changed so much after selection that it was not possible to use them either.
The Hermit Hero's basic food basket was based on grain. The barn was filled with: 200 kg of millet, 400 kg of oats, 80 kg of rye, 150 kg of barley, 150 kg of wheat.
Lard, dried fish, dried mushrooms and berries were prepared, as well as linseed oil, honey, nuts, apples, cabbage, pumpkin, onions, garlic and crackers.
When they began to count vitamins and minerals, it became clear that one could not do without milk and eggs. Four goats and a dozen hens with a rooster drove into the farm.
And what was required was by no means fattened thoroughbred cattle, but authentic. It was difficult to find an unformat: thin, lean animals, which farmers usually call "wretched".
Together with the snow-white dog Snow, Pavel Sapozhnikov went to the Middle Ages.
The hermit hero was supposed to start a video blog. In the evening, a camera will be set up at a designated place. Turning it on, Pavel will tell how his day went, share his feelings.
An external observer, a colleague and friend of Pavel, Sergey Brodar, will settle half a kilometer from the historical wintering, who will observe the farm from the tower, describe on the site the life of the ancient Russian settler Sapoga.
The evacuation of the hero will be carried out only in case of a real threat to life: in case of a broken leg, blood poisoning, severe fever or mental disorder. The signal for this was to be the sound of a horn.
“Instead of a toothbrush - a spruce branch”
From the very beginning, things didn't go as planned. The house built on the eve of the project sank, gaps formed between the logs. Every day, the hermit hero spent a lot of time caulking them.
The stove-heater smoked and could not completely warm up the modest dwelling. When burning in black, problems with ventilation were revealed. One single window was unable to draw out the smoke from the stove.
The bread oven that the "fighters" built on the street under a canopy did not have time to dry properly due to the long August rains. In addition, a large amount of firewood was required to warm it up. And then it turned out that the hop starter does not cope with raising the dough. Pavel switched to unleavened dough. He took flour, salt, water, a little honey. He made cakes with a diameter of 10-12 cm, a thickness of 1-1.5 cm. He baked them on coals in a home oven, instead of a frying pan he used shards of broken pots.
Flour was made from a mixture of wheat, barley and rye. He ground the grain mixture with the help of two millstones that were inserted into the barrel. To obtain the desired degree of crushing, 8 milling and 2 sieving were required, then 2 more milling and sieving.
The barn was not ventilated, which was a big mistake. Due to dampness, mold appeared on the walls. The grain began to germinate in places, the dried fish went bad. Yes, the mice won. And the cat, who was entrusted with the fight against rodents, did not show the slightest interest in them.
The autumn was also protracted, it rained until January. Everything in the house was soaked with moisture. The smokehouse turned out to be flooded, pottery was broken, the only staple (a large knife with two transverse handles for planing) drowned in the well, both awls broke, the shoes sewn with linen threads crawled. The boot had to be altered all four existing pairs of primitive shoes. Here the ancient spring scissors came in handy, a piece of wax for waxing the thread so that it would better pass through the skin. The hero's leather shoes got wet, Pasha's feet were constantly damp. No impregnation helped, be it oil or fat. Then Pavel adapted himself to use straw as socks and insoles. By the end of the day, I dried several pairs of used pressed insoles, and the next day they were back in business.
The muddy clay in the yard looked like a skating rink. One day Pavel slipped, fell and cut his finger on his hand. I had to get stitches. One of the forged needles and a harsh thread were used. The bleeding was stopped, but the suture festered. The boot steamed the wound in the bath, and things started to get better.
Daylight was limited. Having made a notch in the calendar, the hero hurried to milk the goats, clean the barn, store and chop firewood, cook food, wash, repair clothes ... In general, it’s easy to guess: Pasha’s enthusiasm was seriously tested.
Cut off from civilization, Boot began to talk with goats, whom he called all Glash, and a rooster. However, he did not address chickens, did not consider them worthy of attention.
It got dark early. There was no TV, no Internet, no books. The boot began to sing. Modern songs did not work. The soul asked for historical, dull and lingering. Most often, Pavel sang military songs that sounded at the front. I suddenly remembered the one that was written 200 years ago: “The Tsar gathers his children ...” From the dimly lit house, lit by a pair of lights that “worked” on linseed oil, I heard: “When we were at war ...”
Boot had his own war. He had to fight with apathy, longing, rolled out of nowhere with his own anger.
Life in Ancient Rus' turned out to be harsh. Instead of racks with computer disks - an ash shelf, instead of a carpet on the wall - a cowhide, instead of a lighter - flint, flint and tinder, instead of a toothbrush - a spruce branch, instead of toilet paper - dry moss.
For the sake of the project, Pasha had to quit smoking. Scientists say the food chain has changed. Before the experiment, his favorite dishes were buckwheat, rice, and meat. Now I had to get used to grains, lentils and goat's milk.
Food stocks were melting, but the hermit did not go well with fishing. Only once did Pavel manage to catch two roaches and cook an ear. Small game, hares and squirrels, were also in no hurry to fall into snares.
“I wanted gin - I put the mash”
Troubles rained down on Paul one after another. Several times he fell ill, lay in a fever, drank herbal decoctions. On one of those nights, a fire almost broke out. From one of the lights, which Sapog did not put out even at night, a spark fell on the nearby wax, and the lid of the barrel caught fire. Feeling the smell of smoke in time, Pavel put out the flame.
The next day, I woke up to a ringing silence. Dawn was breaking, but there was still no cock crow. It soon became clear that the rooster had been dragged away by a fox. At the edge of the forest, the hermit then found a bunch of feathers - all that was left of his beloved kochet.
The dog, which was supposed to guard the farm, had escaped by that time and settled in the technical zone, where, undoubtedly, it was more satisfying.
And the red-haired cheat, as they say, got a taste.
When Boot was lying with a temperature, she dug into the chicken coop and dragged the chicken away. The victim of the fox was Pasha's most beloved laying hen, which gave the most eggs.
Goats soon also became one less. Having switched from compound feed and antibiotics to old Russian food, they began to give only a glass of milk. One day, the owner forgot to close the door to the closet tightly and, returning with water from the well, found the whole horned company that relish destroyed the stocked cabbage, grain, dried fish ... Expelling the impudent one from the room, Pasha broke several ribs of one of them. The animal had to be slaughtered. Goat meat was enough for him for a month. The melted interior fat went to fuel for lamps.
There was no snow or frost. Ice fishing has been postponed. The boot had to catch tits and sparrows. An inverted basket was used, raised above the ground with a peg on a string. The carcasses of the birds were small, but there were enough pairs of birds for a pot of broth for the hermit.
On the 111th day of the experiment, Boots slaughtered the first chicken. The fact that she did not rush was determined by a real veterinarian: by a hard stomach and a narrow sacrum. When I plucked a chicken, there was no limit to disappointment. Farm poultry was very different from store broilers. In terms of the amount of meat, her legs were similar to the wings of modern 45-day-old chickens grown on soy and special top dressing. The meat on the breast is no more than a centimeter. Game and only!
But there were also pleasant surprises. On one of his happy days, Pavel accidentally discovered 12 eggs at once. One of the unlucky hens was rushing outside, in a bread oven. I decided to cook a chic omelet with the addition of milk, flour and green onions. Onions germinated for a week in pots with water. A culinary breakthrough took place, but without green feathers. The goat ate the onion sprouts.
According to Pasha, he constantly wanted meat, and he was also terribly short of fruit. From the remains of apples, he cooked stew, baked unleavened cakes with filling.
Once, when he was making tea from juniper, Boot was terribly hungry for gin. I decided to “taste intoxicating” and put the mash on honey and apples with the addition of pieces of yeast dough.
After all, our ancestors were not teetotalers.
“Modern man is very corrupt. He takes heat, light, and cooked food for granted,” says Pavel. - Here, on the farm, I have developed a completely different attitude towards those products that are sold in abundance in supermarkets. I began to understand how much work was invested in growing the same grain, preserving it, grinding it, baking bread and delivering it to the buyer.
- On the first day after the completion of the project, are you going to sit down at the Internet, TV, mobile phone?
“Now I’m thinking, should I get rid of my cell phone altogether?”
It is felt that the X century has already left its mark on our hero.
The last open day has passed. The organizers decided that the two remaining months of the Boot should spend in strict isolation.
On March 22, on the day of the equinox and the beginning of the new year according to the calendar of the Slavs, the popular science, socio-psychological, historical and archaeological experiment will come to its logical conclusion. Scientists will sum up: what social and psychological changes have occurred in the personality of the hero. How did the rejection of constant communication, conveniences, modern technologies and devices affect him? Scientists hope to put the results of the experiment into scientific circulation.
Irina Anatolyevna Sapozhnikova, Pavel's mother, whom he calls mother, is going to meet her son on the field after the end of the project with a hearty dinner and a pie. She did not put up obstacles when Pasha was going "into the past." Irina Anatolyevna believes: "Everyone has their own way in life." Even if it leads to the Middle Ages, where you will have to try on the life of the ancient Slavs, take a lot from the new reality and live with it in the present.
culture art society history
Sometimes everything gets boring. Offices, computers, cars, skyscrapers - what is all this for? Where is the simple natural truth, where is the unity with the earth and its products?! Down with civilization!
Alexander Kanygin
In the middle of a hut dark from smoke and soot, among pots, pebbles and rags, a camera is installed on a tripod. In front of her, with his dirty hands folded on his chest, stands a grubby bearded man. From under a shaggy hat, a scythe descends like a snake onto his shoulder to bury himself in a buckle that fastens two parts of a gray woolen cape. “After five months of the project, we finally achieved what we wanted from the very beginning - speech is very slow, words seem to cross a jelly river before sluggishly falling out of the mouth - turned a modern person, that is, me, into some semblance of a vegetable whose thoughts are only occupied by food, firewood and sometimes the sun. An agonizing pause, during which the bearded man's gaze glides through the boughs piled on the floor. "Here".
Meet it Pavel Sapozhnikov, a participant in the project “One in the Past”, who voluntarily got lost in time and turned into an ancient Russian peasant for half a year, living as a hermit in an authentic settlement of the 10th century.
The house (1) is divided into three parts: on the sides of the chamber - a barn and a crate for storing supplies. Not far from the dwelling, a glacier (2) dug deep into the ground - here the water freezes in winter, and then the ice allows food to be stored for a long time. Several wicker sheds, a well (3) , an outdoor bread oven (4) and a tiny soap bath that is heated in black (5) .
"Alone in the Past" was conceived and implemented by the agency of historical projects "Warriors" as an experiment designed to find out how people lived before the invention of computers and traffic jams and, most importantly, how the rejection of constant communication, amenities and technologies will affect a modern person. As soon as Pavel's seven-month immersion into the past was over, we met with him and, looking into his eyes, cautiously asked: "Well, how is it?"
Project conditions
1 Communication with people, except for a psychologist and a doctor who sometimes come from the forest, is prohibited.
2 Evacuation only in case of life threatening. No modern drugs can be brought into the 10th century.
3 No cable TV, no news, no internet, no robotic vacuum cleaner. You can only use copies of tools from excavations, any modern technology is prohibited.
In the beginning there was a field
The farm, uprooted from ancient times, was built on a field near the village of Morozovo in the Sergiev Posad district in the Moscow region. Pavel explained that there is a base nearby, where the "Warriors" are preparing for various historical festivals. The place is not crowded and at the same time accessible. By the beginning of construction, strings of trucks with building materials stretched there. Everything is strictly historical, no nails and fillers. The tree smelling of resin is processed with a scythe, the ancestor of the planer straight from the 9th century, a deer skull is hoisted onto the wattle fence - a talisman against evil spirits. Why didn’t the choice fall on Siberia or Karelia, where full-fledged hunting and fishing are possible, and a hole in time was drilled so close to a large city? The buildings are planned to be used even after the end of the project, and, as experience shows, houses left by a person quickly become unusable: the first version of the farm without supervision in just six months was overgrown with weeds up to the roof.
First person
« To be honest, I don't see the point in reconstructing chivalry or medieval Japan if our history is no less interesting. Therefore, for a while he became a resident of Ancient Rus'.
No need to think that I was just brought and left alone in this artificial past. I have been working on a project from scratch. That is, he prepared it both at the design stage and at the construction stage too.
I remember the moment of time travel, to be honest, poorly. Before that, I was systematically and very effectively preparing myself with alcohol, so when everyone left, I sort of sat by the fire and quickly went to bed. It was only in the morning that it dawned on me what I had gotten myself into.”
Menu with tits
Pavel masters a new place. Sometimes, returning from a walk in the forest, he puts his hand on a log of a log house heated by the sun to feel how his new home breathes. The house, by the way, has already acquired original decorations. “I have made new friends. Dobryak and Kusaka. They are very nice and you can talk to them.” Pavel maintains a blog on the project and records himself on camera at the end of the day. "Friends" - stiffened carcasses of tits hanging from the ceiling with open wings. Two is just enough for a pot of stew, so carefree clucking chickens are safe today. He does not catch birds from a good life: he really wants meat, and cutting laying hens means depriving himself of omelettes and scrambled eggs.
First person
« I had dried mushrooms and berries. A little fish, which, alas, quickly deteriorated. And, of course, lentils, rye, wheat, barley and peas, which I sincerely hate. Goats gave milk, chickens lay, although I could not always immediately find out exactly where. The diet is quite poor, but did not experience hunger. By the way, I quickly began to understand very clearly how much and what I need to eat in order to do certain things. That is, theoretically, it was possible to go into the forest and knock down such a tree, but after that I would lie down at home for a couple of days, unable to do something more important: I simply would not have enough calories. And there was a terrible lack of fruits: oranges, kiwi, bananas. Probably something was missing in the body. I really wanted gin! Well, remember, with such a juniper smell ».
Inspecting the pantry is the first thing. There are enough stocks, but they are threatened by time and rodents. Grain sprouts, bare rat paws stomp on jars of cranberries, dried apples become covered with fluffy mold.
According to the plan of the organizers of Alone in the Past, the hero can, if necessary, fish and hunt, for hunting he was even given a bow. It is doubtful, to be honest, that modern man will survive earning his livelihood in this way.
First person
« But once I even saw hare tracks! Well, in general, what do you want, this is the suburbs. What kind of hunting is there? ».
Amenities in the yard, the neighbors bleat
With obvious historical inconveniences, Pavel rather painlessly squeezes himself into the framework of ancient Russian life. He even allows himself from time to time some delights - contemplation of the sunset under a mug of fragrant broth. I don’t feel like going into the house until the cold came: the hut copies archaeological finds from Veliky Novgorod, and the dwellings then were not distinguished by comfort. In the center is a nine-meter room in which the subject sleeps and eats. In winter, there will also be a working workshop. Bundles of herbs and homespun sacks of grain, marked with birch bark labels, interfere with kissing your forehead on the low ceiling beams. All this sways at a height inaccessible to rats and mice and exudes a scent that can drive herbalists crazy.
First person
« I chose the most delicious herbs for myself and brewed them in different combinations and proportions, not particularly paying attention to their properties. Yes, and you can read a little there on this birch bark, it’s dark ».
« Do you know what annoyed me the most? Until winter came, people passed by my dwelling several times. Mushroom pickers, apparently, or fishermen. And if only someone looked at all this with interest! As I understand it, lovers of boletus and crucian carp are terribly purposeful people: they will bury their noses in the ground and go about their business, pretending that there is nothing unusual around. How did it happen? You come out of the forest - there are medieval buildings. Earthen roof at the house, everything is low, squat ».
The walls of the chamber are generously covered with soot from the stove, which is located on the floor like a stone slide and, smoking mercilessly, cooks food and heats the house. Next to her is a small table; to turn it into a dining room, you need to brush the dust on the floor with a special pen.
First person
« There is no need to scare anyone about smells or incredible dirt. For some reason, there was no feeling that it was dirty. In the city, at the end of every day, I want to go to the shower, and there I quite calmly washed myself once a week. And it was not because I felt this stickiness, as in a metropolis, I simply understood that it was necessary. I washed my hair three or four times during the whole project. So, for real, with ashes. My hair just got better ».
medieval routine
While the sun still has time to warm the air before painting the tops of the trees pink, Pavel prepares for the winter: he prepares firewood, caulks the walls of the house again with moss. The usual routine is also enough: replacing and drying straw insoles, mending clothes (shoe straps rot from dampness), cooking food on fire, war with rodents. Everyday worries are strange to the taste of a modern person: for example, Pavel's list of household items includes a comb with frequent teeth for combing out lice, if they decide to join the project.
First person
« For some reason, many are sure that during the moments of rest I thought a lot. But after about a month, my thoughts disappeared almost completely. Thinking was very hard, it became serious work. It was easier to chop wood. We are used to the fact that everything around provides information: books, magazines, television, the Internet. You analyze it, and your head works correctly. But when you live alone in the forest, there are no special informational reasons. I could not seriously analyze such events as a breath of wind or stirring of leaves. That is, before, probably, people had enough of this, but now it is not enough ».
The initial joy of realizing that you have been transported into the past, over time, dissolves into difficult everyday life. Sometimes you don’t feel like getting up in the morning at all, Pavel forces himself to go into the forest or chop wood. However, he understands that he will give up very quickly if he deals exclusively with everyday life, so sometimes he plays with goats. With a dog, it would probably be more fun, but she has already run away for several months.
First person
« If such an economy, as I had, is approached in detail and correctly, it will take up all the free time - this is true. But, when the blues came over me or there was no desire to do something, I understood that if I went for a walk, then nothing critical would happen. I even came up with a few games, such as hide and seek with goats: they got used to me very quickly and started yelling if they couldn’t find me. Well, the game usually went on until they found me or I could no longer withstand their heartbreaking cries. In general, at some point it began to seem to me that I could distinguish emotions on goat faces. It's hard to describe, but you could tell if the animal was pretty or not. This is such a complex combination of expression of eyes, cheeks and beard ».
The usual economic problems, for which the organizers were preparing, faded into the background. There were foxes on the farm.
The arrival of mice, rats and foxes, which began to destroy the household without any doubt, irritates not only Pavel the peasant, but also Pavel, a resident of the modern metropolis, who, no, no, and even woke up in it. How? He, a person familiar with the Internet, cars and 3D printers, is being eaten by some kind of rodents? This is war!
First person
« The foxes stole my hen and rooster from me and in general quite often impudently circled around the house. For some reason, I made the fight against them a very important thing for myself: I set snares, built various traps, even made a spear. And they are very smart, they bypassed everyone. But one morning he left the house and saw that the fox was sleeping right in the hayloft. He grabbed a bow, he hung on the wall, the only arrow, ran up and fired. I used to train a lot and was sure that I shoot well with a bow, but when a beast the size of a cat is cowardly thirty steps away from you ... In short, the arrow remained stuck in the ground, but the shaft turned out to be all in blood. Probably slipped through somehow. ».
Silence
When purely utilitarian issues are resolved, then, having made sure that their time has come, psychological problems appear. Most of all, Pavel is annoyed not by loneliness, but by informational isolation. It is sometimes so quiet on the farm, as if someone had hammered moss for a caulking log house into your ears. Because of this, the sudden clucking of chickens seems unnaturally loud, and the rustle of rats running under the floor can be heard even from outside. Time seems to have gone astray and is now wandering blindly somewhere nearby, bumping into birch bark tueski and slipping on liquid mud. Pavel wanders for a long time in the forest or, leaning on a wattle fence, examines a vast field, on the edge of which stands a farm.
First person
« In order to somehow diversify my life, I talked with goats. True, they did not answer, but I noticed later that I endowed them with all human features. Once he was telling Gorky's poem "The Song of the Falcon", and the goats turned around and left. I was terribly offended by them - I sincerely believed that they insulted me, they left without listening to the end! I had to boycott them for two or three days. Then, however, I realized that I was going crazy, I forgave the goats and began to communicate with them again ».
And then winter came
Cold white stretched to the horizon. The wind is trying to squeeze between the logs of the hut, and in despair, with anger, it begins to bang on the door. Pavel goes out of the house less and less, sometimes, after collecting firewood, his fingers become so stiff that he cannot strike a spark for a long time and sits in a cold, frowning room.
First person
« The house was sometimes very dark. It is such a special, thick blackness, especially on starless nights. But what scared me the most was the sounds at first. I could not understand their source: the forest, animals, the sound of a lid of some kind. You know, according to my calculations, goats alone are capable of making fifty unusual sounds that can be similar to anything in the world. It was much later that I began to distinguish a chicken that flew off a perch from a goat that decided to scratch itself on the fence. And at first I had to go out into the street or prop the door with something. I was also depressed by the inability to turn on the light or at least open the window - it was not there! There is no flashlight or mobile phone at hand so that you can highlight the corner in which someone is scratching. For the smallest spark, you must first strike a spark, catch it, blow it up ... Meanwhile, someone is wandering around the house ... In general, yes, it was sometimes creepy ».
The mental state of the time traveler is monitored by expert psychologist Denis Zubkov, who visits him once a month. “One of the most serious tests for Pasha on the project was depression, which rolled in full force closer to the middle of the project. It was difficult to perform daily activities, difficult to get used to, and then learn to feel good in conditions of loneliness.
First person
« I somehow had a psychological breakdown, as the psychologist later explained to me, and I killed one goat. They climbed into my house and broke a lot of dishes, and there was nowhere to get new ones. And something came up: I started yelling at one, for some reason I grabbed an ax and cut off her head. Then I just thought: what have I done? But you can’t return the head to its place, I had to butcher the goat and salt it. I ate for a whole month. But at the same time, she was terribly sorry. It's still a pity. They called Glasha. True, all my goats were Glashas. This, by the way, is very convenient: you call one, and everyone comes.
Imagine, it turned out that killing goats is very stress-relieving. It was enough for me until the end of the project, I was very calm. But at the same time, I didn’t have a single plate left.”
The impossibility of civilization
« I had many plans that could not be realized on the project. Let's say I planned to get a horse to help me haul timber. I'm glad I didn't, she would have starved to death. I also wanted to build a forge, they even made a shed for it. But already on the spot I realized that this does not fit into my schedule of the 10th century. While I am doing it (and what is there to forge? for whom?), I will not have time to milk the goats or cook food. Toward the end of the project, I really wanted to take a bath. Do not wash, namely sit in hot water. Then I acted not quite sportily: I went to the village and stole a huge wooden tub there. Moreover, I carefully planned the operation, waiting for the darkest time of the day, when, as it seemed to me, people sleep especially soundly. He rolled away a huge, very heavy oak tub. He swore all over, cursed everything, while pushing in front of him. When I rolled her home, it was already beginning to lighten up. In order not to delay bathing, he immediately began to fill it with water. While getting the first bucket from the well, I figured out how many buckets of water I need. It turned out something like 350, while 200 buckets should have been hot. It's still cold outside - when I heat up the 200th, the first will turn into ice. I dropped everything, sat in this empty barrel and stared at the sky for a long time. Remembered Robinson Crusoe and his boat, which he could not launch and which became a monument to impotence
189 days is, of course, too much. Just enough to carry and give birth to a high-quality mental disorder. But if we were in the place of the organizers of the project, we would have arranged a medical and preventive boarding house for citizens who have been mutilated by civilization from this farm.
Tired of crowds of people, from the subway, from an overabundance of information, from the hustle and bustle, from the asphalt under your feet?
A couple of weeks of lonely meditation on a mound - and now the metropolis with all its restaurants, cinemas, hot baths and the absence of mosquitoes seems to you the paradise that it is. And most importantly - there are people! Real! Many, many remarkably lively, talking people, all the magnificence of which can be understood only by being deprived of their company for a long time.
First person
« I am sure that if a modern person gets into the past and is free to use modern technologies there, then he will seem like a superman. I imagine how dark people were. How slowly their head worked - without education and constant flows of information. After half a year, I became dull, but I’m just coming to my senses.
After the project, my relationship has changed a lot over time. I realized that taking a bath in half an hour or the next day is about the same order of things. There is no need to rush to do something. In general, he became very patient. Learned to cook better. Definitely began to treat things more carefully, because I didn’t have so many of them. I realized that there are three basic things that are important for any person: dryness, warmth and satiety. Everything else comes after. If at least one thing is not done, everything else loses its meaning. If you are in the forest, wet and hungry, you will not give a damn about all the benefits of civilization. It's pretty hard to accept without feeling it."
How about an apocalypse?
Just in case, we decided to ask Pavel a question that worried us after watching several disaster films. What can an ordinary person do if suddenly a universal conflict breaks out and civilization ceases to exist?
« perish. Pretty inglorious, indeed. I am not an expert in the field of survival, I just have some understanding of my capabilities. Even firearms will not help the average person. Rather, it will exacerbate his situation. And all sorts of survival kits, dugouts and buckwheat supplies are simply ridiculous ».
