Archeologists from Ural Federal University have found a unique to Western Siberia Neolithic stone mine. These pits in the territory of Sugmutskoye field (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) may be "ancestors" of mining in Western Siberia. The complex was called “ET-2”.
"For several years we have conducted research and excavations at the hill of Mount Uvyr-Pai, where the pits (width: 3-4 m, depth: 2 m) have been found, where probably the ancients quarried stone. This is a unique complex; we haven't discovered such complexes in the whole Western Siberia. We can presume that this is the beginning of mining in Western Siberia,” – says Lyubov Kosinskaya, the expedition head, assistant professor of the Archaeology and Ethnology Department.
Scientists suppose that the finding could be "mine" and not, for example, a settlement as nothing but stone tools has been found.
During previous excavations the UrFU scientists have already discovered a settlement, which was called “ET-1”, with the help of radiocarbon analysis of coal they have found out that the artifacts were 6-6.5 thousand years old. That time the university scientists made another unusual discovery. "Few pottery items were found in in ET-1 settlement. Pottery fits into what people did in the Neolithic Age in Western Siberia and the Urals, but the method of patterning is not typical for this period neither for the territory of the Urals, Western Siberia, nor Altai, "- said Lyubov Kosinskaya.
On August 21, the discovered artifacts weighing more than 100 kilograms have been brought to UrFU. The university archaeologists have three years to study artifacts, after it they will be sent to the Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex in Salekhard.