Outlines of the Archaeological Study of the Stone Age in the Russian Eastern Arctic

Abstract

The East Siberian Arctic is an enormous territory. In many respects it still remains little explored. The main matrix for assembling versatile knowledge about the nature and man of the region is the Bering Land concept. In this article, the history of the development of theorethical grounds of the research and exploration of the region is discussed. The history of human settlement in arctic West Beringia spans approximately 50,000 years. More than two-century-long practice of archaeological study comprises three periods: the initial stage ending before WWII; post-war period, or Soviet stage (1940s to 1991); and the modern post-Soviet stage (1991 to the present day). Basic ideas on geology and paleogeography of the region were formed during the first two stages; then methodological grounds were expanded in archaeological studies. The first Pleistocene site was discovered in the area in the early 1970s. The knowledge on the ancient past of Beringia has been largely obtained within the modern stage of research when various evidence of the past human activity has been received, which enables to reconstruct the process of human settlement in the area. Unique objects of the world cultural heritage, such as Zhokhov and Yana sites, have been revealed. These materials allow identification of the complex technologies of the Stone Age, thanks to which people occupied these areas, and evaluation of the features of the socio-cultural development of the ancient population of the region. Results of the studies performed recently demonstrate a giant scholarly potential for further research in that area. Qualitative changes in the examination of the region are largely associated with the expansion of scholarly tools.

Keywords:

Stone Age, late Neopleistocene, early Holocene, Arctic, Western Beringia, history of research and exploration, current state