#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Polar Lithium, a joint venture between Nornickel and Rosatom, will protect this Neolithic site as an archaeological monument. To accommodate this, the company has adjusted the highway route, which will now be built 100 meters west of the settlement’s farthest point.
Moving forward, Polar Lithium will not conduct any industrial activities in this area, according to a statement on Nornickel’s Telegram channel.
The settlement is located in the valley of the Iokanga river, where it flows into Ketyozero lake. Artefacts found at the site include quartz flakes, stone tool blanks (known as chips), several flint tools, a fragment of pottery, and remnants of fire pits. Polar Lithium has reported the discovery to the Ministry of Culture of the Murmansk region, and the site’s passport has been prepared.
“We initially dated this monument to the Mesolithic period (around eight thousand years BC). However, further study revealed that it actually consists of two archaeological sites related to the Sami people: one from the Neolithic period and another from the Middle Ages”, said Vasily Zaharov, the Polar Lithium press service head.
Archaeologists made the discovery during the final phase of work conducted in collaboration with the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Material Culture History Institute. Since the tundra surface takes a long time to recover, the soil was replaced after the search for artefacts, and land reclamation was carried out.
Earlier, This Is Taimyr reported that scientists found nine-thousand-years-old sled in the Arctic.
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Text: Maria Sokolova, Photos: Nikolay Shchipko
