Objective
The Chukotka archaeological expedition of the State Museum of Oriental Art conducts the Ekven excavation in co-operation with the University of Tübingen and the International Committee for Archaeology in Chukotka. It was started by the museum in 1987 and has continued as an international operation since 1993.
The fieldwork has the following goals: to secure palaeoecological and archaeological data and monuments (Ekven settlement); to obtain new data for the various aspects of material and spiritual culture activities in a palaeoecological context of the sea hunters of early Chukotka and their contacts with other regions of the Old and New World; to construct in co-operation with ecologists and anthropologists the main stages of biological and cultural evolution in the Ekven territorial group of ancient Eskimos in the Bering Bay of the last millennium B.C. and the first millennium A.D.
Considering the extreme historical comparative importance of Ekven as a fully preserved site, and that it is one of the biggest ancient Arctic monuments of Euarasia and America and threatened by destruction by the sea, intense work is needed. In this project the Chukotka archaeological expeditions provide a unique opportunity for co-operation with scientists from Canada, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The project is a long-term one and covers sub-projects in the following fields: ecosystem evolution; history; paleoeconomic activities; material and spiritual culture and anthropological peculiarities, as well as modern economic aspects, of the people of Chukotka.
The following results are expected: protection of the burial sites against uncontrolled excavations; documentation of the settlement patterns of the Ekven area to understand more fully the land and sea-use patterns in the given time range; a more detailed evaluation of available data to gain a better understanding of excavated material; to start an ecosystem mapping and monitoring as a basis for comparative studies of ancient activities and modern conditions; use of these results for feasibility studies for modern land use, including local economic development under scientific observation, as a basis for other long-term projects; and to improve excavation techniques and documentation in the Arctic as a co-operative project.
Call for proposal
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72070 Tübingen
Germany