The oldest art of the Eurasian Arctic: personal ornaments and symbolic objects from Yana RHS, Arctic Siberia

• Published in: Antiquity
• Main Authors: Pitulko, Vladimir V., Pavlova, Elena Y., Nikolskiy, Pavel A., Ivanova, Varvara V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Yukaghir; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00047827; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003598X00047827

The excavated site termed Yana RHS is dated to about 28000 BP and contained a stunning assemblage of ornamented and symbolic objects—the earliest art to be excavated in the Arctic zone. Decorated beads, pendants and needles connect the site to the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic; but other forms and ornaments are unparalleled. Shallow dishes and anthropomorphic designs on mammoth tusks find echoes among hunting practice and shamanistic images of the indigenous Yukaghir people recorded in the early twentieth century.