Yamal Field Notes Expedition Begins

The geology of the Yamal Peninsula (Map) consists of clay, silt, sand and mud. No rocks larger than pebbles exist throughout much of the entire peninsula, and most larger rocks found here have been imported from southern Yamal and the Ural mountains. The vegetation is tundra with dwarf willow and birch growing in the valleys of rivers and brooks. Few trees grow on the northern peninsula. It is very flat with the average height above sea level not more than 300 feet.

-Sven Haakanson

Yamal Video Field Notes
The team gets off to a slightly rocky start. Anyone have a wrench?
AVI 1.5Mb

The Field Team

Dr. William "Bill" Fitzhugh
Director of the Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Formerly the Chair of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Dr. Fitzhugh is one of the world's foremost experts on Arctic peoples and has published widely.

Dr. Andrei Golovnev
Head of the Ethnological Department, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tobolsk. In addition to his other archeological and anthropological pursuits, Dr. Golovnev is also a leading ethnological filmmaker.

Sven Haakanson
PhD candidate in Anthropology, Harvard University. Sven is a native Alutiiq from Kodiak Island, Alaska and is fluent in Russian. He is featured in "The Giant Bears of Kodiak Island," a National Geographic film.

Continue: The team comes face to face with a centuries old culture...