ST. PETERSBURG, July 31. /TASS/. Archaeologists say the Arctic is a most promising direction for ancient history studies - many artefacts and biology materials remain in the permafrost, while in warmer climates such samples have been lost by now. However, scientists fear the climate changes and anthropogenic reasons threaten historical monuments, which have remained untouched for millenniums.
"The Arctic is a territory which archaeologists have not studied thoroughly, we know nearly nothing about it," Sergei Vasilyev of the Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Culture Studies told TASS. "The current threats for archaeology in the Arctic are the global warming, shores’ erosion, thawing permafrost, and, secondly, the continuing active developments in Arctic, which should go along with archaeology studies."
The Arctic keeps huge amounts of archaeology material, to which scientists received access in the late XX century - before that, nobody risked digging the permafrost. Many valuable data on the human history and on history beyond the Polar Circle have become available only recently.
In the Arctic, scientists dig out ancient settlements and burials, find human remains, bones of animals, as well as artefacts of fragile materials - objects made of wood and leather, textile.
The nature ruins history
Geology processes, of course, continue at any times, but now, due to the climate changes, this process is quicker, the scientist said.
In Yakutia’s Arctic zone, ancient settlements become covered with water as a consequence from the soil erosion. According to Valery Argunov of the North-Eastern Federal University, about one in two registered archaeology objects could have been lost due to the climate change. "Between 50 and 60% of the objects on the lists are missing now," he said. "Most of them were opened in the 1970s."
"On Chukotka, water destroys ancient Eskimo settlements. Some big objects are lost, others are losing the cultural layer a meter by meter," referent of Chukotka’s cultural heritage department Elena Rogozina told TASS.
"With the catastrophically low studies of Chukotka’s archaeology monuments (to some of them archaeologists have not come for 30-50 years after they were opened), many lacunas in the information about how the territory developed in the past is not just the region’s disappointment, but a major irreversible human loss," she continued.
"The only thing to do is to boost the archaeology work in the North," Vasilyev said. "Though it could be doable if we have projects and financing for them."
Relocating objects as a saving option
On Russia’s northernmost territory the problem of flooding historical monuments also exists, though that area keeps objects of much closer times. On the Franz Josef Land archipelago (the Arkhangelsk Region) at risk of disappearing is the so-called Ziegler Camp of the 1901-1902 American-Norway expedition to the North Pole.
Back in 1990, the camp’s buildings were some 40 meters from the water edge, and by 2017 the distance has shrunk to only seven meters, Yevgeny Yermolov of the Russian Arctic National Park said.
The biggest task now is to organize a most thorough photo registration of the monument, to have archaeology studies and, if possible, to take objects and even buildings to the mainland. "We should save the objects, and interfering with the nature, organizing big construction, mechanical, engineering works at the natural reserve is unacceptable," he added.
In Komi, archaeologists are saving objects from coming rivers, Deputy Director of the regional Institute of Language, Literature and History, Igor Vaskul, told TASS.
One of the expeditions, the Institute has organized, is now at the digging near the Arctic territory, where at risk is the Bronze Age monument. The expedition’s head, archaeologist Tatiana Turkina explains the monument is threatened by the river and by the people.
Ahead of civilization
"Most importantly, the development should continue along with archaeology studies," Vasilyev said. "This is regulated by law."
"But, realistically, it is easy to control such activities in Crimea, where everything is seen easily, while here - the territory is vast and hard-to-reach," he said.
This is a very sensitive problem, for example, for Chukotka. "Great damage comes from unsanctioned work, when pits and roads are made not as projected, but as it is most convenient - from constructors point of view," Rogozina said.