The expedition camp “Valley of the Kings” was set up on the side of the storage pond Eerbek in 40 km from Kyzyl on June 11, 2011. The first field season expedition covered the period from 25 May to 15 September 2011.

The Russian Geographical Society’s representatives personally participated in the preparations and arrangements of camp life. They developed the main site areas by involving students into scientific and educational activities. The expedition team included scientists and archaeologists, geographers, ethnographers, and ecologists. All in all 5 groups worked in the expedition in the midst of the season (4 archeological groups and 1 geographical one). The total number of the participants was 130, 90 of them being student volunteers from different regions of Russia, namely Tuva, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Novosibirsk.

Everyday camp life

“Valley of the Kings” camp has provided comfortable conditions for scientists, professionals and students. It is equipped with everything necessary to stay and work there. The participants live in tents with folding beds. There are enough of power supply units, communication systems, bathing tents, sanitary facilities. There is also a field kitchen. The camp is guarded round-the-clock. There are also field medical and rescue teams. The camp administration has standby autos.

 Life and free time activities

The daily routine of the camp also includes research and education activities (excursions, lectures and meetings), cultural and entertainment activities (discos, sports tournaments, etc.). The camp “Valley of the Kings” gives students a chance to gain unique experience, while scientists have an opportunity to pass their knowledge to the younger generation. The organizers are trying to do everything to ensure that nothing distracts participants from their work and that their stay in the camp becomes unforgettable.

Achievements of the expedition in the first field season

During the first expedition season, the expedition team excavated and studied 27 burial mounds and 5 early man sites simultaneously, including burial grounds of different historical periods located in the valley of Eerbek river, in Kyzylskiy kozhuun (Erbek-10, Ak-Dag-1, Bai-Dag-1 Bai-Dag-6 , Eki-Ottug-1 Sausken-3), and the settlement Kara-Orga in the territory of Pii-Khemskiy kozhuun.

The first season of 2011 was rich with various finds from different historical periods of the Early Scythian Epoch: unique iron knives and axes, bronze items for burial rites (knives, awls, needles, mirrors), ceramics, millstones, deer stones (Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols), ritual stones with clear-cut pictures of people etc. The results of the first field season were presented at two press conferences where the artifacts were demonstrated. The specialists started making the catalogue. The replicas of the finds will be used as gifts and souvenirs. The Russian Geographical Society organized an exhibition called “Treasures of Tuva” at its headquarters in Saint-Petersburg. The exhibition shows the results of the Tuva archaeological project along with the record of archaeological research in this region.

Tuva enables you to travel across the alpine meadows, tundra, forest-steppe zone and deserts just in a day or two. Tuva has more than eight thousand lakes, 100 of which are the big ones. Its territory is a complex system of mountain ranges where the great river Yenisei is born, highlands, deserts and semi-deserts with valleys between them. The mountains are covered with taiga, but you can also come across completely bold and dazzling white rocks.

The land of Tuva is well known to specialist archaeologists and historians around the world. Tuva is considered to be a key to understanding many cultural, historical and ethnic phenomena of the world history. A lot of nations migrated across this territories from the Paleolithic period.

There are monuments of different historical periods – from early man sites to mysterious medieval towns, ancient monuments of the Stone Age that were created 200-100 thousand years BC. There are also ancient rock paintings of animals and hunting scenes preserved in many places. About 3500 kurgans were found along the shores of Ulug-Khem and Khemchik.  This is the biggest accumulation of ancient burial grounds in Central Asia.

The valley of Tuva belongs to the places of the earliest human settlements. It was inhabited by the Huns from the middle of I millennium BC to II century AD. Since the end of V century to the middle of the VIII century Tuva was a part of the Turkic Kaganate. Then, before the end of the VIII century, it was ruled by the Chinese emperor. Later the Uighurs took possession of Tuva and founded here settlements and forts. Mongol conquerors came here in 1207. Since XIII to the middle of the XIV century Tuva was a part of Altyn-khans’ Mongolian state.

From 1757 to 1912 Uriankhai Region (Tuva) was under the yoke of the Manchurian-Chinese feudal lords. The Russian protectorate over Tuva was established in 1914,  and in august 1921 it was declared to become the independent People’s Republic of Tannu-Tuva . In 1944, Tuva joined the Soviet Union.

Before the railway construction, scientists have studied the area and detected more than 80 archeological monuments and objects (burial mounds, sites, petroglyphs) in various parts of the territory. All these objects belong to different times, from the late Stone Age up to the ethnographic epoch, and are of a great scientific interest. Some of them are situated right on the construction site. The necessity to adequately study the archeological monuments in the construction area, to carry out rescue excavations and to organize a complex research of the historic region was obvious. As a result, in 2011, the Russian Geographic Society provided a grant to launch an archeological and geographical expedition and to equip a camp called “The Kings’ Valley”.

The expedition is intended for at least 4 seasons – from 2011 to 2014. The first season works were carried out by the large Russian research and educational centres – Archeology and Ethnography Institute of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg Institute for the History of Material Culture attached to the Russian Academy of Science and Tuva Institute for Humanities Research.

In 2012, the expedition will be enlarged. The archeological works will be carried out in two territories – Krasnoyarsk and Tuva. The intended amount of work is about 20-22 sites per year (which makes 60-66 sites in the following years).

“Students from different countries! Unearth the secrets of the Kings’ Valley!” – said the President of the Russian Geographical Society and the Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Management Sergei Shoigu. According to his decision, in 2012 the expedition will be receiving the status of an international scientific and educational project. It will enable young people from different countries with certain interest in history, archeology, geography, and culture, to undergo additional and practical training in their professions and communicate with like-minded people. For this purpose, the Russian Geographical Society has announced the international competition for young people who would like to participate in the second field season of the expedition in 2012. According to the main requirements, the candidates should have no medical contra-indications, be interested in the expedition work and be ready to work in the field. The applications can be submitted by students, young scientists and teachers through the international cooperation departments of their universities. After completing the season works, all the participants will receive a set of papers confirming that they have undergone the practical field training and participated in the excavations.

 Such factors as the presence of highly professional scientific members, success of the excavations in 2011, variety of outstanding historical heritage of the region, interesting cultural programme based on different forms of intercultural communication – all of the above makes us hope that “The Kings’ Valley 2012” will become one of the most impressive international projects of the Russian Geographical Society conducted in cooperation with its partners, colleagues and friends from different countries.  

Additional information about this competition is available on the Russian Geographical Society website http://www.rgo.ru/.

Read article  “Tuva, beautiful and mysterious …“

The latest issue 04 (04) 2011 is available now.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

GES Journal Editorial Board

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issue 04(04)2011

Number 1 (2011)

Number 2 (2011)

Number 3 (2011)

Also attached are the previous issues of the above magazine (see below).

Number 1 (2010)

Number 2 (2010)

Number 3 (2010)

Number 4 (2010)

The second Arctic international forum «The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue» is to begin on Thursday, September 22, 2011, in Arkhangelsk. The forum will be held in the Northern (Arctic) Federal university.

The opening speeches will be given by President of the Russian Geographical society Shoygu S.K., Vice-president of the Russian Academy of Sciences N. P. Laverov, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation Yu.P. Trutnev, Professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks Brigham Lawson, Transport Minister of the Russian Federation I. Y. Levitin, Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast I. F. Mikhalchuk, and Rector of Moscow State University V.A.  Sadovnichiy.

Then the forum will proceed with three thematic sessions on the issues of the Arctic transport system development, integrated security and emergency prevention, and the environmental protection in the Arctic. Altogether 29 reports will be read during the forum.

To find the detailed information about the forum programme click the following link:

The thematic programme of the second international Arctic forum «The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue».

Andrey Kapitsa was born on July 9^th 1931 in Cambridge, U.K. The scientist’s whole life was inextricably linked to first Soviet and then Russian geographical science. A graduate of the Moscow State University’s Faculty of Geography, Mr Kapitsa was a member of the Russian Geographical Society. He took part in four Antarctic expeditions undertaken by the Soviet Union between 1955 and 1964, and headed the 1967-1969 Eastern African expedition of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. From 1965 to 1970 Andrey Kapitsa was the Dean of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of Geography. He also served as the Chairman of the Far-Eastern Research Centre of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences’ Presidium, and was the founder and first Director of Pacific Institute of Geography.

In 1953 Andrey Kapitsa graduated from the Moscow State University’s Faculty of Geography. After his graduation the promising young geographer was invited to work at the Laboratory for Experimental Geomorphology attached to the Faculty of Geography. In 1958 he successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Morphology of the Eastern Antarctic ice cap”, and only seven years later, in 1965, the scientist completed his doctoral dissertation, “Subglacial relief of Antarctica”.

In cooperation with other scientists, Andrey Kapitsa made one of the most remarkable geographical discoveries of the 20^th century – a vast lake beneath the Antarctic ice, near the polar research station Vostok.

Mr Kapitsa’s research interests revolved around various environmental issues and sustainable nature resources management. The geographer was among the first to challenge the theory of anthropogenic causes of the “greenhouse effect” and the “ozone holes”. Later, a team of scientists under his leadership proved that Antarctic ozone hole anomalies had a natural origin.

In 1987 the scientist set up within the MSU’s Faculty of Geography the Department of Sustainable Nature Resource Management, which laid the foundation for subsequent development of this new scientific branch.

Professor Kapitsa also introduced new areas of learning into the MSU’s geography curriculum, including courses of lectures dedicated to such themes as “Introduction into sustainable nature resource management”, “Current issues in the field of  sustainable nature resource management”, and “Sustainable nature resource management – applying geographical methods to environmental studies”.

Andrey Kapitsa’s numerous students always noted that he was a companionate and sympathetic person, not only happy to advise on scientific research, but also eager to help get through a difficult period in life.

During his prolific career as a scientist and university professor Mr Kapitsa received many government awards, including the State Prize, as well as honorary titles, such as Professor Emeritus at Moscow State University; Honorary Employee of the higher education sector; and Meritorious Scientist of the Russian Federation. For his contribution to the Atlas of Antarctica, Mr Kapitsa was awarded the U.S.S.R. State Prize and MSU’s D.N. Anuchin Prize.

In the past decade Kapitsa published a series of research papers dedicated to methodological aspects of studying industrial pollution and ecosystems stability in the Russian Arctic. These publications resulted into a monograph entitled “A methodology for assessing the state of Arctic ecosystems transformed by human activities”. At about the same time, together with A. Gavrilov, he put forward a theory of a natural origin of the Antarctic ozone hole anomalies. Together with O. Sorokhtin he carried out a series of studies dedicated to geopolitics of global climate change.

The lying-in-state ceremony for Andrey Kapitsa will take place on Thursday, August 4^th, in the foyer of the Moscow State University’s Community Centre (Dom Kultury).

Information:

Lake Vostok, named after a polar research station, is one of the largest subglacial lakes in Antarctica. The total surface area of the lake is estimated at 15.5 thousand km², which is 15 times bigger than the surface area of Moscow and two times smaller than the surface area of Lake Baikal. Lake Vostok is hidden some 4,000 metres beneath the Antarctic ice cap. Its estimated depth is over 1,200 metres.

Scientists believe that water temperature in Lake Vostok is too hot for Antarctica; it may reach at least 10 degrees Celsius in the deepest regions. In fact, water in the lake is heated by subterranean geothermal springs, and this gives scientists a reason to assume that the lake might be inhabited by ancient organisms, which have developed and evolved in isolation from the rest of the world.

In advance, several phototraps were set in the wildlife preserve “Leopardovy” that adjoins the reserve “Kedrovaya pad” [“Cedar honeydew”]. On finding out that one of the traps had “caught” a leopard a special group set off for that place. The group included the project manager and deputy director of A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russia Academy of Science V.V. Rozhnov, the vice-premier, curator of the programme to preserve the Far Eastern Leopard and chairperson of the trustee council of the charitable fund for the Far Eastern leopard preservation S.B. Ivanov, the vice-governor of Primorye V.Ch. Miasnik, the executive director of the Russian Geographical Society L.E. Ovchinnikova, the director of the wildlife preserve “Leopardovy” and the reserve “Kedrovaya pad” S.A. Khokhryakov.

A number of snares to catch and then to tag the predator were set by the wildlife preserve workers. They checked the snares every morning. However, they failed to catch the leopard at once. A young female Asiatic Black Bear was caught in one of the snares on September 6. After putting the animal to sleep, the scientists did several tests to check her health and soon set her free. Fortunately, it was not long before a leopard was found and the long-awaited tagging occurred at 5 p.m. local time on September 8.

The snare in which the leopard was caught was placed near village Ovchinnikovo, 45 km south-west from Vladivostok. After immobilizing the animal with an injection, the workers did all the necessary tests and then, with the assistance of S.B. Ivanov, put the collar with the transmitter GLONASS.  Now the 28-kilo female leopard that was called after a nearby village Slavyanka will be watched by specialists. They say that the collar is absolutely harmless for the animal and will function about six months – after that the collar will automatically come unfastened.

The tagging of the leopard was followed by a meeting where V.V. Rozhnov told about the methods used at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution to study the Far Eastern leopard. He said that the first results of the study could be expected in 2-2.5 years. Then the floor was passed to S.B. Ivanov who repeated his former idea that it was necessary to create a large Russian national park “The Land of the Leopard” uniting a number of reserves in Primorye. The hunting sector, military bases and the Primorye government have already reached an agreement on the park borders that embrace all the adjoining territories – the parties understand the necessity to create a closed ecosystem within the reserve. They are also preparing an agreement on the transboundary reserve territories with China – the Chinese government is going to create 9 frontier reserves to preserve the Siberian tiger and Far Eastern leopard within the next several years.

The uniting of the closely protected territories will encourage the population growth of the leopard – the only subspecies in the world that has adjusted itself to life in the snow-coved areas – by creating the possibility to settle the individuals far apart, thus decreasing the risk of epidemics and increasing the nutritive base. According to L.E. Ovchinnikova the base has recently shrunk ‘due to conflagrations, construction of roads and construction in general. This leads to extinction of the roe deer – the main food of the leopard’.

In their turn the workers of the reserve told about some pressing problems including the dangerous struggle with poachers. They said it was necessary to introduce some changes into the legislation because at present a gamekeeper even does not the right to inspect a car with hooves sticking out of it – they have to call a policeman and bring witnesses who can hardly be found in the taiga…

At the end of the meeting, S.B. Ivanov presented the workers of the reserve with watches encouraging them to further protect our nature and discussed with S.A. Khokhryakov the plans to attract tourists and to create tourist routes and the relevant infrastructure. After that Ivanov hurried to V.V. Putin, the chairman of the Trustee council of the Russian Geographical Society, to make his report. Since 2009, V.V. Putin has been supervising all the Russian Geographical Society’s programmes on rare species preservation including the “Strategy of the Far Eastern leopard preservation in Russia” that was approved in 1998.