Field Research in the Bulunsky District (the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)) in 2021

Abstract

The study of the problem of the initial development and subsequent settlement by ancient human populations of extreme natural zones is difficult to study, but, in the case of discovering archaeological and paleontological locations, it is a very informative source. The first discoveries of traces of the presence of an ancient man in the Bulunsky district date back to the beginning of the 19th century, and they continued sporadically throughout the entire 20th century, and especially intensified at the beginning of the 21st century. The discovered locations are represented by both mass material and single finds. In 2021, field studies were carried out in Neelov Bay on the side of the Bykovsky peninsula and the Kozhevin-Vollosovich interfluve in the north of the Kotelny Island of the Anju archipelago of the New Siberian Islands. These areas represent the arctic tundra with active thermal denudation processes, which contribute to the discovery of paleontological remains of mammoth fauna, and often lead to the regular seasonal destruction of paleontological and archaeological sites. New archaeological and paleontological material found on the southeastern coast of Neelov Bay demonstrates the intensity of the development of the most ancient populations of people in the Arctic zone of Eastern Siberia. The result was the discovery of new Pleistocene fauna complexes, as well as the verification of the previously discovered Taba-Yuryakh location. The obtained osteological material belongs to the Late Pleistocene mammoth complex. On some of the bones, traces of human influence were found, presumably hunting or cutting, which indicates the active development of the ancient population of the Arctic zone of Yakutia in the Paleolithic. The obtained data will make it possible to significantly correct the existing ideas of the chronology and sequence of development of the Paleolithic industries and paleoecological settings of this region at a later stage of the Quaternary age.