Image via Wikipedia
The locals knew it as Dennis’s Cave, because once upon a time Dennis lived there.
Well, the Russian equivalent. Dionisij.
So, Dennis was a hermit who lived in a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia during the 18th century. And the locals named the cave after him, though the indigenous population named the cave less prosaically: they called it Bear Cave.
The cave had long been a curiosity, as caves are wont to be, when in the 1970s Soviet scientists found tantalising remains, and they looked found, not gold and jewels but a greater treasure by far: a fragment of a finger bone.
The bone, they found after analysis, belonged to a young girl who was 41,000 years old.
And not only that, but she was not quite the same as the girls that walk Siberian paths today. She was not Homo sapiens exactly; nor was she Neanderthal, they pronounced. In fact it seemed that she was another kind of human entirely.
Of course, they named her after Dennis the Hermit. Of course they did.
Though she is more often known, these days, as Woman X.
Denisova Hominim’s fifth finger fragment was found with artefacts including a bracelet. They were preserved because the temperature in the Siberian cave remains at zero degrees all year round, keeping ancient remains in stasis.
And the last time she, we and our Neathenderthal cousins shared an ancestor was estimated, by the German team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, to be one million years ago.
What an extraordinary place it is, this Siberia. If one cave can yield such treasures, what about all the rest? Making up 77 per cent of Russia’s territory, only 28 per cent of Russia’s population live there. Conditions are cool at best, frozen wastes at their extremes. Remote, with a modern population forming the beads along the necklace of the Trans Siberian Railway.
But the older population: the ancient Siberians have left us untold treasure. Not gold and jewels, mind,but story. And not written story, but pictures, figures, shadows of a past in a waste of which most of us can hardly conceive.
The American Museum of Natural History caught me unawares with its Siberian collection. From 1897 until 1902 its then President, Morris Jessup, funded an incredibly ambitious exploration. Its purpose? to look at the peoples either side of the Bering Strait, and to fathom their relationships.
Some might say those relationships were fathomless.
Siberia is a vast land peopled by nomadic peoples with names like murmurs: the Yenets, the Nenets, the Huns, the Scythians and the Uyghurs. A land overrun first by Mongols, and then the great empire of Russia.
Some of the artefacts from the great expedition found their way back to the museum in New York, and there they have stayed, on the offchance that some might pass these incredible life-fragments and see them for what they are.
A pair of bears, scrapping; a lone walker with his stick. A peasant, dressed against the cold; hunting scenes etched on wood. Every one a masterpiece of expression; a small, perfectly formed, three dimensional story.
If anything could make me a compulsive anthropologist, this collection could.
Kate Shrewsday 
Every cave needs a Dennis or Denise, that is true. What an amazing find!! Those figures are phenomenal – especially the bears 🙂
These figures are comparatively modern- they were collected during the 1898 expedition and a lot are 19th century. But they portray the same things the people of Siberia have been portraying for thousands of years. An amazing set of peoples.
Surely the bears are dancing? 🙂
Ah, Tony, I see you’re a ‘glass half full’ kind of person…..
This is so incredible Kate! Had no idea about the discovery of another human species!! Envying you your trip to the museum….the next best thing to seeing it in situ 🙂 My dream is to visit at least one pre-historic cave. But most require prior permission, and those aren’t very easy to obtain.
If you ever make it, Madhu, I’d love to see the post!
There seems to a fish involved in the bears’ struggle. Fantastic images. Amazing image suggesting early whale hunting. Totally absorbing,,,thanks, Kate.
Pleasure, Roger, though these are quite late images collected by the 1898 expedition. Thing is, I don’t think much had changed up there for thousands of years..
How wonderful!
I think so 🙂
Very interesting indeed. Why anyone would voluntarily live in such a climate beats me, I need another jersey just reading about it. Love those bears 🙂
Being sent to Siberia was always such a grim Russian punishment, Cindy. Incredible to think there were people who chose it as their place.
So cool! I often forget how much of this world is still yet to be discovered and explored. Thanks so much for sharing and reminding me of the mysteries of the world.
Original title, great to hear from you. It is indeed still a mysterious world.
love those figurines – wow! I want to know why Denis didn’t find a warmer cave to live in 😉
I have no idea, Gabrielle. He must have been a hardy hermit indeed.
Quite amazing discoveries. A couple of the paintings look almost like Bushmen ones (I’ve never tot used to all this San and Koi terminology).
I must google and have a look, Col!
Those scientists and their whacky naming techniques. (At least they didn’t name it after the “it” girl of the moment on the offchance she’d want to meet and possibly go on a date with the discoverer, which is a true story, by the way. It might have worked better for the anthropologist involved here than the entomologist who actually tried it, though.)
Ha! I can see how that might work, B! No, some very prosaic naming strategies at work here. Dennis. I ask you.
You know, not a direct comment on this, but just saying … your writing makes me happy. Thank you. It puts a little bit of wonder in an often oh-too-bland world and perks up my day. So happy we came across each other.
Michael, you made my day. Thank you.
Maybe the bears are dancing and sharing a fish. An optimistic thought. Those whales look like they’re smiling.
Anything’s possible Gale…. The only people who can tell you for certain aren’t around to confirm or deny the stories we build around them.
Cool story, Kate . . . brrrrrrr!!!!
Stories in need of a parka, Nancy 😀
Looks like the bears are everyone’s favorite. Mine too.
I like the man with the walking stick. I feel like I know him.
I find the whole discussion fascinating, imagine if I could go back to university now, this is what i would study.. c
Me too, this time around, Celi!
Most people believe it is these that became our Native Americans. Do you look at these artifacts and find similarities to the fat-bottomed dog? (I have my own theories about Native Americans. I believe we have been a melting pot for a very long time. I will write more about that in the new year.)
With global warming, who knows what may surface in Siberia?
Fascinating, Kate.
I love to just stare and wonder! I can see why you’d find this mesmerizing. I’m with Andra on the Native American connection. I’ve done a little reading, but the more I read, the more questions I have. These museum exhibits are feasts for both hard knowledge and imagination!
Beautiful carvings. I agree with some of your earlier commenters that the carvings found in Siberia are reminiscent of what Eskimos and Native American Indians have created. Intriguing.