Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site

Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site is an Upper Paleolithic archaeological locality in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of northeastern Russia that documents one of the earliest known human occupations in Arctic Siberia. The site has produced a rich assemblage dated to roughly 32,000 years ago, showing human presence at very high latitudes during the Late Pleistocene.

Excavations have recovered hundreds of stone tools and a range of organic artifacts, including implements fashioned from rhinoceros horn and ivory, plus faunal remains. These finds demonstrate established tool industries and the use of organic materials in toolmaking well before the Last Glacial Maximum.

The site was discovered and first excavated in 2001 by a Russian archaeological team and has been the subject of multiple field seasons since, producing stratified deposits used for radiocarbon and other analyses. Research at the site has contributed to understanding human adaptation to Arctic environments in the Pleistocene.

It sits on a river terrace of the Yana River in northern Yakutia, inside the Arctic zone of the Sakha Republic. The locality is in a remote tundra and permafrost landscape and is reached primarily by organized scientific expeditions.

• Age: Radiocarbon and stratigraphic analyses place human activity at the site to roughly 32,000 calendar years before present.
• Access: The site is remote and has been excavated mainly by specialist archaeological teams; it is not a regular tourist destination.