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Secrets of the Arctic

Ancient Arctic Peoples

It increasingly appears that humans had spread into even the most remote and environmentally severe areas of the planet by relatively ancient times. During the Upper Paleolithic period (also known as the “Late Stone Age,” which lasted between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago) cultures were developing in northeast Asia and present-day Alaska concurrently with Europe and the Middle East. The world’s northernmost Paleolithic site, Berelekh in present-day Yakutia (about 71°N, 145°E), dates back some 35,000 years during the climax of one of the last major glacial periods. The inhabitants of Berelekh and other Late Paleolithic peoples hunted mammoths—which provided the bulk of their meat, hides, bones, and tusks—as well as woolly rhinoceros, bison, horses, muskoxen, and deer.

Hunting and the practice of using fire to modify the landscape in all likelihood caused significant decreases in the numbers of mammoths and other large herbivores, contributing to their disappearance about 11,000 years ago. Populations of big plant-eaters such as mammoths required far more abundant food resources than presumably would have been available during glacial periods. And yet, bones from large herbivores have been found in areas that were considered indisputably glacial in the past. Assemblages of the remains of entire mammoth herds have been uncovered, as well as extremely well-preserved mammoth carcases entombed in permafrost. The latter discoveries suggest that the rich grasslands inhabited by the animals might have experienced a sudden change, such as an abrupt drop in temperature or an electromagnetic field shift.

Archaeological evidence shows that small numbers of Asiatic nomadic hunters crossed the Bering land bridge at least 12,000 years ago and could have eventually reached the southern tip of South America by 11,000 years ago. Researchers have posited two possible routes for the human expansion into the Americas: a coastal Pacific route and an interior route called the Mackenzie Corridor on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountain cordillera. Paleolithic artifacts similar to those found in the Gobi, Siberia, and the Far East have surfaced in Alaska. (However, recent paleontological findings point to a much earlier date—about 50,000 years ago—for human habitation in parts of North America. Also, some early human remains appear quite physically different from other pre-Columbian populations.)

The greatest flourishing of ancestral Eskimo cultures, known collectively as the Old Bering Sea Culture, occurred along the coastal areas of present-day Alaska and Chukotka (at the northeastern extremity of the Russian Far East). By about 500 BC, a series of coastal settlements stretched many thousands of kilometers, from the Primorye Territory (at the southeastern corner of the Russian Far East) to Korea, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Kamchatka.

The many discovered remains of Arctic settlements from these societies including burial sites, ritual structures, and encampments replete with various artefacts made of carved bone. Many Eskimo artefacts demonstrate the cultural influences of China, Japan, the Amur River basin, and southern Siberia. One of the best explored archaeological sites, Ekven, located on coastal Chukotka, contains over thirty semi-subterranean Eskimo dwellings and burial sites dating from the first millennium B.C. to 1000 A.D. The finely carved and engraved harpoon points, spearheads, and other implements incorporated design elements similar to those of tools from the Amur River basin and China. Inhabitants of Chukotka and Alaska also used iron brought from China during this era, and schist knives used by Bering Strait sea hunters were shaped like Japanese metal battle-axes. The level of sophistication in these sculptural and graphic ornamentations suggests to some archaeologists that perhaps the ancient Eskimos also were developing their own proto-writing system around this time.

Between the eighth and tenth centuries A.D., the Old Bering Sea Culture began its decline—a passing that was reflected in the practical implements of everyday life. The previous diversity of harpoon heads and “winged objects” began to disappear, along with intricate designs, and carving ornamentation became dominated by concise, conventional images.

The Chuchuna

Residents of remote areas of the Russian Arctic have long told stories about encounters with mysterious human-like creatures called Chuchuna. Reminiscent of tales of the Himalayan Yeti, or North America’s Bigfoot, some anecdotes link the secretive Chuchuna to diminutive dwellers of the Northern Ural hills (the Sikhirtya), while others speak of an underground (Syrtya) nation, frequently called the “Chud”. The Chuchuna are said to skin wild reindeer for clothing, dig holes in the ground like bears, and run as fast as a bird flies. They are reputed to be tall and strongly built with extremely long hair, and although shy of humans, will sometimes steal food or even chase people. Many Chuchuna legends have been collected and written down by Leopold Schrenk, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and by author Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Articles from 1929 that included detailed descriptions of Chuchuna and allegations that they represented a previously unknown tribe of Yakutia (in far northern Russia) were resurrected in 2005 by the Mir Severa (World of the North) magazine. The reprinting caused quite a stir, prompting a tide of letters from readers and a commentary by ethnographer G. V. Ksenofontov, who pronounced the stories mythical. Nonetheless, many northern people continue to believe in the existence of Chuchuna.

Arctic Shamanism

Shamanism, a body of beliefs and customs relating to communication with the spiritual world, has probably been practiced for more than for 40,000 years, predating all organized religions. It still endures among indigenous peoples in parts of Asia, Australia, Polynesia, New Zealand, Africa, and North and South America. Northern Asia, particularly Siberia, was long a stronghold of shamanism. Variations were once widespread among the Eskimo groups scattered across Eastern Siberia and Alaska, and the Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and Greenland; however, shamanistic traditions had greatly declined by the end of the 19th century. Despite the diversity of cultures and demography, practitioners of shamanism hold much in common. For example, the shamanistic beliefs of the Siberian Chukchi share many similarities with the religions of northwestern American Indians.  

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  • Delsyumyaku Kosterkin, one of the last surviving Nganasan shamans in Dudinka in the Taimyr Autonomous Area.
    Nganasan shaman Delsyumyaku Kosterkin
  • Yevdokia Porbina, an ethnic Nganasan living in the village of Ust Avam in the Taimyr Autonomous Area, performing a shamanic ritual.
    Female shaman from Russia’s Taimyr Autonomous Area
  • A Chukchi shaman performing a ritual.
    Shamanic ritual
  • Shaman’s tambourines in the local history museum in Biysk.
    Shaman’s tambourines
  • Merited cultural worker of the Republic of Tuva, S. Saaya, performs a ritual featuring traditional shamanic dance and dress.
    Shamanic ritual dance
  • A shaman at the opening ceremony of the Arthur Chilingarov Cup national snowmobile racing contest Buran-Dei 2010 in Naryan-Mar.
    Arthur Chilingarov Cup snowmobile race Buran-Day 2010 in Naryan-Mar

The central figure in this spiritual system is the shaman (probably from the Evenki language, meaning “he who knows”), who is considered a healer, mediator, and seer. Shamans allegedly are able to travel between the three parallel worlds of shamanic cosmology: the physical plane of living people, the spiritual heavenly realm, and the nether world the dead. Acting as an intermediary, the shaman links people with the various spirits and accompanies the souls of the dead to the nether world. Core beliefs in some traditions included the concept that humans have more than one soul and that time in the three worlds flows in opposite directions and at different speeds. In the middle (physical) world it progresses from the present to the future. But in the heavenly world, time stands still; an instant and eternity mean the same thing there. And in the nether world, time flows backwards from the present to the past. This system was believed to ensure the renewal of life on Earth.

To interact with the spiritual worlds—either to benefit the community or do harm—a shaman might use ceremonies involving fire, chanting and singing, recitation of epics, dance, or ritual objects. Shamans frequently enter into trances to allow their souls to visit other worlds or be taken over by spirits. Treating the infirmed—the shaman’s most important job—involves driving away hostile spirits. In addition to spiritual treatments, shamans make skilful use of various herbs, roots, animal organs, minerals, and waters. They might also use sleight-of-hand and ventriloquism to impress their audience. 

Arctida and Beringia

The breadth and depth of Arctic marine waters have fluctuated dramatically over time. Over the past 2.5 million years of Earth’s history, Arctic sea levels have varied by 800–900 meters. During glacial periods much sea water was tied up in continental ice sheets, which reduced sea levels dramatically and exposed huge areas of the continental shelves. As the ice cover melted, sea levels gradually rose, until the next glacial cycle began. At the lowest sea levels in what is today Eurasia, dry land extended far to the north, stretching from Novaya Zemlya in the west to the present-day Bering Strait in the east. This region is referred to as the Eoarctic or Arctida.

Abundant scientific evidence confirms that an isthmus of land—formed by the glacial draw-down of sea levels—periodically connected present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia. Between 38,000 BC and 15,000 BC, scientists say that the Bering Land Bridge (so named because it crossed the Bering Strait) was accessible during three periods lasting thousands of years at a time. At its greatest extent, the vast tundra plain that linked Asia and North America spanned roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from north to south. The land bridge and the grasslands that stretched for several hundred miles into the continents on either side of it are known as Beringia. The moderating influence of southwesterly winds kept enough of the land bridge glacier-free to allow humans, other animals, and plants from Asia to use it as a migration route.

When Arctida and Beringia existed, the climate was far milder than today, as revealed by the remains of  many trees, large mammoths, and other plants and animals found on Arctic islands. Russia’s Diomede Islands, the US islands of St. Lawrence and St. Matthew and others in the northern Bering Sea are relicts of the land bridge, which gradually was submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last glacial age.

Hyperborea and Mystical Traditions

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, certain spiritual traditions and metaphysical schools of thought have paid homage to Hyperborea (Arctida). As writer Jeffrey Jason tells it,

“Far north, somewhere near the icy regions of the North Pole, legend speaks of an ancient and mostly forgotten civilisation. Mythical in character, the Hyperborean civilisation is said to have flourished in the northern most region of planet Earth at a time when the area was suitable for human habitation.

According to certain esoteric systems and spiritual traditions, Hyperborea was the terrestrial and celestial beginning of civilisation. The home of original Man. Some theories postulate Hyperborea was the original Garden of Eden, the point where the earthly and heavenly planes meet. And it is said Man transgressed Divine Law in this Golden Age civilisation, the ultimate price being his banishment to the outside world. Man ventured into other regions of Earth, establishing new civilisations, bringing to an end this great and glorious Golden Age.”

Ancient Aryans sang of the North Polar Star—believed to lie at the center of the universe—and the 5th century Indian astronomer Aryabhata taught that the “kingdom of angels” was located in Earth’s northernmost zone. Following up on this traditional line of thinking, in 1903 the Indian philosopher Bal Gangadhar Tilak asserted that references in the Vedas, Hinduism’s oldest scriptures, strongly suggested that the sacred texts were composed in the Arctic and subsequently brought south by Aryan bards after the onset of the last glacial age.

Madame Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society in 1875, claimed the “second root race” originated in Hyperborea, before the later races of Lemuria and Atlantis. And, Russian metaphysician Alexandre Dugin posited that Hyperborea was the home to the “solar people” and connected to modern-day northern Russia. Writer Vladimir Dyomin also has explored evidence from history, folklore, ethnography and archaeology in support of the notion of humankind’s ancestral home in Arctida. His writings link the construction of the ancient city of Arkaim—discovered in 1987 in the Chelyabinsk Region—to inhabitants of Arctida.