The Central Indigirka in the Last Ice Age, North-East Arctic Siberia

Abstract

North-East Arctic Siberia inspires interest in Quaternary science because of the poorly known natural and cultural history of this vast territory. The current field research has been prompted by progressing permafrost thaw due to climate warming. Investigations in the central Indigirka area (2014–2021) focusing on fossiliferous Late Pleistocene sites provided new knowledge on relief dynamics and ecosystems during the Last Glacial. Geo-contextual and biotic proxies recovered from stratified yedoma formations in the tributary valleys—Uyandina, Tirekhtyakh, Badyarikha, Ogorokha—document parkland and forest landscapes of meandering channels and marshlands during the MIS 3 interstadial (55,000–24,000 yr BP) analogous to the present-day. Frigid tundra and syngenetic ground ice development characterized the last glacial stadials (MIS 4 and 2) and the second half of the MIS 3 non-glacial. Remains of ungulate and carnivore animals with preserved soft-tissues sealed in permafrost grounds underscore the supreme conservation within the Pleistocene cryolithic contexts. The new data complement the existing records of palaeo-biota and environmental change within the Yana–Kolyma Lowlands. The associated archaeological evidence confirms a very ancient (>50,000 yr) peopling. The early MIS 3 interstadial was clearly the principal Late Pleistocene time span of the Palaeolithic dispersal within the Siberian Arctic.