Russian scientists have studied the Zhokhov site of an ancient population, which is located in the high-latitude Arctic. They have described in detail the way of life of the ancient people who lived there. Despite the area's sparse population, the ancient people communicated with representatives of other territories and even exchanged goods with them through trade fairs.
[...] The scientists conducted excavations in permafrost and have already investigated a significant part of the monument—about 571 square meters. Many tools were found made of stone, bones, horns, tusks and wood. These are hunting weapons, parts of sleds and home utensils. Among the lithic artifacts, there are many microprismatic blades, which were used as side-blades for composite tools that served as spears, darts, arrow points and knives. Most of them were produced of silicious rocks of local origin, while some of them were made of exotic raw materials unusual for this part of the world, including obsidian and volcanic glass. The researchers found 79 such items. The ancient people appreciated this material for its splitting ability and valued its extremely thin and sharp cutting edges. This material has high research value because each deposit of obsidian carries its own unique geochemical signature, which can identify the source of the material. Thus, researchers can learn more about contacts with people from other regions.
There is no obsidian source nearby Zhokhov Island. The closest area with such a source is located near Krasnoye lake in the lower reaches of the Anadyr River in Chukotka, which is some 1,500 km in a straight line, a travel distance of more than 2,000 km. It would seem that the ancient people could not travel such a distance physically. The authors studied the unearthed obsidian objects via X-ray fluorescence, a nondestructive method that reveals the geochemical properties of samples and thus provides a method to locate the source of the material.
Similar evidence of extensive pre-historic trade networks have been found in the Americas as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 25 2019, @11:05PM
They traded ice for frozen water.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:26AM (5 children)
From the Wikipedia article on Zhokhov Island:
Also, the maximum average temperature is about 3º C at the height of summer.
So, why the hell would anybody choose to live there? ~8,000 years ago the planet was not so densely populated that they could not make a good living somewhere much warmer, so I doubt they were pushed that far north by stronger rivals.
They also traded over very wide areas, so they must have been at least reasonably successful, or they would not have had anything to trade.
There must be a reason, because people don't do things with no motivation. I just can't see what it might be.
Oh, maybe they ate all the Woolly Mammoths, so they just kept heading north to eat the next big, blubbery animal?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:37AM
Higher latitudes are associated with more meat in the diet.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 26 2019, @03:19AM
Being on top of the world is a reward, in and of itself. The north is beautiful, man!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 26 2019, @05:29AM
You can't really use the present times as too much of a reference. 2000 years ago the middle east was some of the lushest and most fertile land on earth (cedars of Lebanon and all that). Humans cutting down so much forest has changed the climate a lot. Wasn't there an article a little while back about prehistoric Europeans causing an ice age just from clearing land for farming?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 26 2019, @12:55PM (1 child)
I bet that was the reason, actually. Hunter/gatherer societies require a lot more space than agriculture-based ones do. They probably were at carrying capacity wherever humans and their ancestors managed to live for tens of thousands of years. Because what else is going to kill humans in large numbers except humans and various sorts of environmental restrictions.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday February 26 2019, @06:55PM
I suppose it must have been something like that, because those guys knew what they were doing.
Imagine living your entire life with cold feet.