IN THE far north-eastern reaches of the Siberian wilderness, a new industry is booming. The frozen soil hides treasures from an earlier era of our planet鈥檚 history: perfectly preserved woolly mammoth bones and tusks. The discovery of this ivory has turned many local men to 鈥渢usking鈥� in the hopes of striking it rich by selling their prehistoric loot to enthusiastic Chinese buyers.
Advertisement
These mammoth mining sites are far off the beaten track. The nearest village is a 4-hour speed boat ride away. The nearest city, Yakutsk, is a 4-hour flight from there. Last summer, , a photojournalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, , shedding light on the tusking lifestyle with this set of pictures.
There鈥檚 serious money to be made. The 65-kilogram tusk in the top image sold for $34,000. Some tuskers can earn $100,000 cash in eight days, so jockeying for territory is a point of tension. 鈥淓ach site belongs to a village,鈥� says Chapple. 鈥淭he law of the land is, if you鈥檙e not from that village there鈥檚 no way you鈥檒l get into that site. If your face is known, you can come.鈥�
Tuskers use high-powered water pumps, which they often carry on their backs, to melt away the permafrost and bore tunnels that can be 60 metres long. Inside, there are sometimes non-mammoth prizes to unearth. The photograph below depicts a fossil hunter emerging with the skull of an extinct woolly rhinoceros, which is at least 11,000 years old.
The industry and its water pumps have had a devastating environmental impact 鈥� muddy run-off ends up in the rivers, clogging up waterways and killing off wildlife.
And the tusking life isn鈥檛 easy. These men spend the entire summer away from their homes and families. And most of them will end up walking away having lost money 鈥� turning up only worthless bones as they buy expensive petrol for their water pumps.
Photographer
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淲hite gold rush鈥�
