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Providensky District

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Providensky District (Template:Lang-ru) is a District (Raion) in the far north east of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, with an area of 26,800 km2, population: 4,660 (2002 Census);[1] , and a population density of 0.17 people per km2. The district is a mountainous region, with most of the settlements found on the coast. The area was first explored by Cossacks in the seventeenth century, but contains many sites of archeological importance, most notably Whale Bone Alley on Yttygran Island.

The administrative centre for the district is Provideniya.

Section of the 1928 US Coast Survey Bering Sea chart showing Providence (Provideniya) Bay and surrounding area.

Geography

This district covers the southern half of the Chukchi Peninsula with a northwest extension reaching almost to Kolyuchinskaya Bay on the Arctic. It is bordered by Chukotsky District to the north, the Bering Sea to the east and south and Iultinsky District to the west. At the southeast corner is the administrative center and port of Provideniya.

Providensky District is mountainous. It was founded in 1957. Prior to its formation, the area belonged to the old Chukotsky District which included the present Providensky and Chukotsky districts and a significant part of present Iultinsky District [2].

The boundaries for the Providensky Administrative District are identical to those of the Providensky Municipal District.

Providensky District also includes Yttygran Island, which features an area known as "Whale Bone Alley", where the jaw bones and ribs of Bowhead whales are arranged on the beach[3].

History

Prehistory

The history of human existence in what would become Providensky district can be traced back to the Paleolithic age, when hunter-gatherers lived in the area[4]. Over the next few millennia, the hunter-gatherers split into two groups, one who stayed on the tundra and a second who looked to the sea for food.

Gradually, those who settled by the shore began to develop their own individual culture, including the construction of their homes and other buildings using whale bones as support, structures which would later develop into the Yaranga[4]. Excavations at many sites along the coast of the district, including present day villages such as: Enmelen, Nunlingran, Yanrakinnot and Sireniki indicate an abundance of food as well as indicating a considerable dgree of continuity in terms of indigenous settlement[4].

Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries

In the seventeenth century Semyon Dezhnev and his Cossacks established the ostrog of Anadyrsk, and began to explore Chukotka. one of these expeditions, led by Kurbat Ivanov resulted in the discovery of Provideniya bay[4] , though the bay did not receive this name until it was "re-discovered" by Captain Thomas E. L. Moore[5] in 1848. Vitus Bering discovered Preobrazheniye Bay on the first Kamchatka expedition[4] in 1728.

In the eighteenth century further inland exploration was performed by Joseph Billings under orders from Catherine the Great to explore her new land of Chukotka and to negotiate trade between Russians and Chukchi, something the Chukchi were pleased to do, since Anadyrsk, which had previously been the centre for trade between the Russians and the local indigenous peoples, had closed and the Chukchi had need of Russian goods[4].

Further exploration took place during the nineteenth century, when Fyodor Litke, the arctic explorer discovered and mapped the Senyavin Strait, the body of water that separates Arakamchechen Island, on which the village of Yanrakinnot is found, from the mainland[4].

Twentieth Century

An area known as "Providenskaya Volost" was founded in 1923 as a part of the then "Chukotsky Uyezd"[4]. The administrative centre Provideniya, the largest settlement east of Anadyr, was established in the 1930s as the port to serve the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route [2]. The port is found in Komsomolskaya Bay (named after the Soviet Komsomol youth organisation), a branch of the much larger Provideniya Bay, providing a suitable deep water harbour for russian ships, close to the southern limits of the winter ice fields.

Historical Sites in Providensky District

Although there are a large number of ancient settlements and sites spread across the whole of Chukotka, there is a particularly high number of such sites in Providensky district ranging from stone age sites, to sites originally established in the middle-ages which continued to be populated into the twentieth century.

Avan

About an hour from Provideniya, this site is a Yupik village first established in the thirteenth century and occupied all the way up to the twentieth century[4]. The site contains a number of Yaranga as well as a "Klegran", a building used only by the men of the village[4]. The area is stil a popular place with local people from Provideniya[6].

Chelkun

This site is a neolithic campsite located where the Chelkun and Ioniveem rivers meet[4]. It was first excavated in 1979[4]. The settlers of Chelkun were part of the founders of Novo Chaplino[6].

Kivak

This is an ancient settlement approximately 2000 years old and founded during the time of the Bering Sea culture[4]. The settlement literally means "Green Glade" in Chukchi[4] and inhabitants of this village also became the founder members of Novo Chaplino[6].

Kyngynin

This site on Arakanchechen Island, is linked with Whale Bone Alley on Yttygran Island, and consists of a series of whale bone columns pointing in the direction of Whale Bone Alley, two burial mounds and a ring of boulders[4].

Masik

Masik is the site of what was once a very sizeable village, even by modern day chukotkan standards, stretching over a mile in length[4] and forming two large ovals in plan around two now dry lakes[7]. The site also contains a very large number of well-preserved structures including homes, Yaranga, whale bone structures for drying boats and storage facilities[4]. The village was populated for about eight centuries from the 12th to the mid-20th century, although there is evidence to suggest that different parts of the settlement were inhabited at different times in its history[4].

Naivan

This is a fortified site from the mesolithic near Cape Chaplino consisting of the remains of a number of Yaranga and a fortified settlement about 3km away at Guygungu[4].

Puturak

Literally from Putulyk, meaning "Meandering" in Yupik, is an early-holocene workshop site that was excavated in 1993[4].

Rygnakhpak

Rygnakhpak is a curious fortified settlement consisting of cells created from large boulders on the upper slopes of Mount Rygnakhpak, an old volcano[4]. As well as the old cells, there is also a more modern structure, which is thought to date from the cold war when local people would have had to man the station to keep a look out for invading armies[4]. Similar structures are found along the coast between this point and Enurmino.

Ulkhum

Like Puturak, this is another early-holocene site, its name derived from the Yupik, Ulkhuk meaning "hot springs" is a thermal spring site still used today by local people[4]. Though it has fallen somewhat into disrepair, it is said that the radon baths here have the power to help heal wounds, cure skin ailments and lower back pain[4].

Unazik

Unazik is another of the villages that provided the first inhabitants of Novo Chaplino[6]. It's name is derived from the Yupik for "Bewhiskered". The village was inhabited until the mid-twentieth centruy prior to it being evacuated and the buildings pulled down in 1958-60[4]. Prior to the evacuation, Unazik was a large village, even by modern-day chukotkan standards, with a population of around 500 and a reputation as an important local trading and whaling settlement[4].

Whale Bone Alley

Situated on the northern shore of Yttygran island (from the Chukchi Etgyran, meaning "midway dwellings", whale bone alley consists of a large number of carefully arranged whale skulls, whale bones and stones, along with a considerable number of meat storage pits[4]. It is thought that Whale Bone Alley was used as a central shrine by a number of different villages dotted along the eastern chukotkan coast[8]. It is thought that the site was used for initiation rituals and for sporting contests[8], although the local Yupik have a simpler explanation that the island was simplay a collective centre for the flensing, butchery and storage of whale meat, an idea supported by the etymology of the Yupik name for Yttygran: Sikliuk, from Siklyugak, meaning "meat pit" in Yupik[4].

The site is monumental by Chukotkan standards when compared with other early settlements such as Uelen, Ekven, Sireniki and Kivak[7], and consists of several lines of whale skulls and jaw bones along the shoreline, several large pits behind them and a number of meat pits surrounding a central sanctuary and stone path around one third of the way along the site travelling from south to north[7].

The site extends some 1800 feet along the northern coast of Yttygran Island[9] and lies on a major whale migration path[8], and it is thought that the site was chosen partly because of the ease by which local people could kill and butcher a whale and also as a place where people could come together and trade on neutral grouund in a forerunner to the fairs held during the period of cossack exploration of the region[4].

There is no evidence of any monumental ritual centre like this elsewhere in any other part of Eskimo lands, though there are sites along the Chukotkan coast where the whale skull motifs can be seen at sites such as Nykhsirak[7].

Demographics

As with all Chukotkan districts, the majority of the population is to be found in the Districts main urban centre, in this case, Provideniya and the immediate surrounding area. In common with Chukotsky District, the isolation of this area, even by Chukotkan standards, means that there is a significantly higher percentage of indigenous inhabitants than in many of the other districts in the Okrug, with the Chukchi the dominant indigenous group in the District[10]. Around 55% of the population are reported as being of specifically Chukchi origin[2].

Transport

Provideniya Bay Airport.

As well as the port, the district is also served by Provideniya Bay Airport, where Chukotavia provide flights to Anadyr [11][12]. The airport has played a significant role in developing relations with the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late eighties, with Alaska Air flights to Provideniya regularly ocurring thorughout the nineties.

Economy

Although the district has an urban centre and port in Provideniya, the economy, thanks to the high indigenous population, is still centred around traditional agriculture, hunting and crafts, with reindeer farming being a major source of income, even though the total number of reindeer in the district, 1,202, is substantially smaller tham some of the larger districts in the Okrug. In order to encourage the continuation of this type of economy, there is a training college for reindeer farmers in Provideniya [2]. Future plans for the district include continuing to grow reindeer farming and related enterprises as well as developing seal fisheries [2].

List of Inhabited Localities

References

  1. ^ Federal State Statistics Service (21 May 2004). Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian).
  2. ^ a b c d e Providensky District - Official Chukotka Website
  3. ^ Bryan and Cherry Alexander, Arctic and Antarctic Photography - Library Images
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Petit Fute, Chukotka, p.129ff
  5. ^ B. Gal, Beringia Days, 2008 (abstract)
  6. ^ a b c d Novo Chaplino area - Beringia Park Website
  7. ^ a b c d Whale Alley: A Site on the Chukchi Peninsula, Siberia, M.A. Chelnov and I.I. Krupnik, Expedition, University of Pennsylvania Press, p.6ff
  8. ^ a b c Whale Alley: the Antiquities of the Senyavin Strait Islands, S.I. Arutyunov, I.I. Krupnik and M.A. Chelonv, Moscow: Nauka.
  9. ^ Alaska Native Art: Tradition, Innovation, Continuity, S.W. Fair, University of Alaska Press, p.45
  10. ^ Indigenous Peoples of the north of the Russian Federation, Map 3.6, Chukotskiy Avtonomyy Okrug, Norwegian Polar Institute
  11. ^ Template:Ru icon Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Air Traffic Management Corporation", Summer Air Traffic Schedule 25.03.2007 - 27.10.2007 (Airports - Russian domestic), 29 May 2007, p. 57
  12. ^ Template:Ru icon "Flight schedule from Provideniya Bay". Polyot-Sirena. Retrieved 2007-08-20. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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