Koval’ V.Yu., Medyntseva A.A., Yeremeev A.A.

Key words: archaeological excavations, epigraphic, pottery, dating of complexes, paleography, literacy in Old Rus.
The excavations at a complex from the first half of the 13th c. at Rostislavl (Moscow oblast’) yielded a fragmented pot with an inscription that had been made on the raw clay prior to the baking. The paleographic features of the inscription allow dating it to the end of the 12th – first half of the 13th c. The inscription is in Cyrillic characters and reads that the pot was a present from someone to a person named Yuri. This is the second find of an Old Russian pot that shows an inscription made before baking, whereas the inscription is the first one that allows a clear reading. The find testifies to the fact of widespread literacy in Rus on the eve of the Mongol invasion.