Mangazeya, Archaeological site in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Mangazeya is a settlement ruin on the banks of the Taz River in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Foundations of collapsed log houses and earthen ramparts lie scattered across a flat tundra plain.
Cossacks established the trading post in 1601 to control Arctic fur routes. When the government banned northern trade shipping in 1619, residents gradually abandoned the settlement.
The name comes from the trading post where Russian fur merchants and Cossacks exchanged pelts with passing hunters. Today, excavated wooden stakes and pit houses show how people lived in this remote Arctic region.
The site lies deep in the tundra, around 66 degrees north, reachable only by helicopter or snowmobile. The brief summer months offer the only window when the ground is not completely frozen.
Permafrost has kept wooden door frames, tools and even textile scraps nearly intact for centuries. Archaeologists found coins and glass beads from regions far beyond the Arctic Circle.
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