The Mammoth Pirates – In Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush

Summary

The Mammoth PiratesIn Russia's Arctic north, a new kind of gold rush is under way.By Amos ChappleWith the sale of elephant tusks under close scrutiny, “ethical ivory” from the extinct woolly mammoth is now feeding an insatiable market in China. This rush on mammoth ivory is luring a fresh breed of miner – the tusker – into the Russian wilderness and creating dollar millionaires in some of the poorest villages of Siberia.On condition that he not reveal names or exact locations, RFE/RL photographer Amos Chapple gained exclusive access to one site where between bouts of vodka-fueled chaos and days spent evading police patrols, teams of men are using illegal new methods in the hunt for what remains of Siberia's lost giants.The treasure hunt began a few years ago when word spread of the fantastic sums paid for mammoth tusks by visiting "agents."It's five hours by boat from the nearest town to this bend in a river where fishermen first spotted strange bones curling out of the ground.THE MAMMOTH STEPPEThe "Mammoth Steppe" was the woolly mammoth's natural habitat between 12,000 and 100,000 years ago, during the so-called glacial maximum.3-layer-mapRUSSIAYakutskSource: NASA, Joshua L. HoodSoon the easy pickings were gone and new methods were devised to extract Siberia’s "white gold."Where tuskers once used sharpened sticks to prod at the ground, today water pumps are the tool of choice.The powerful pumps, designed for firefighting, fill the valley with exhaust smoke as they draw water from the river......to nozzles that the prospectors blast straight at the landscape. The density of animal remains at this site suggests it was once a swamp or bog that swallowed up prehistoric animals.Some tuskers use the excavating power of the pressurized water to bore deep underground. This tunnel runs for over 60 meters.Others carve enormous caverns under the frozen ground.And some gouge out entire hillsides…...in the hope of striking it rich.Permafrost has none of the soft crunch its name...