Excavations of a Russian arctic town

Abstract

Until the late 1960's little was known about the legendary town of Mangazeya, founded in the late 16th century on the lower reaches of the Taz River in northern Siberia as a major fur‐trading center and as a base for the Russian advance into the Yenisey and Lena river basins. The closing of the sea route to Mangazeya to foreign vessels, the opening of new inland portage routes to the Yenisey and Lena and the depletion of fur resources in the region led to the decline of Mangazeya. Its activities were transferred in 1672 to a new outpost, New Mangazeya, on the Yenisey River, renamed Turukhansk in 1782. The results of excavations at the site of Old Mangazeya in 1968–70 are described. (The translation is by lames R. Gibson, York University, Downsview, Ont.)