News and events
The International Scientific Conference "Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Frontier", dedicated to the anniversary of Academician Anatoly Derevyanko, has finished its work. Scientists from Russia, China, Japan and Italy summed up the results of the event and defined the strategy for further research work.
The plenary report of Anatoly P. Derevyanko on the latest research in Altai, which opened new pages of the phylogeny of the genus Homo and the presentation of the collective monograph "Archeology and Ethnography of the Amur Region", dedicated to the anniversary of Academician A.P. Derevyanko, raised great interest among the conference participants. The authors of the monograph were Russian and Chinese scientists.
As part of the conference, a round table discussion on "Current problems of Archeology and Ethnography of the left and right banks of the Amur River in the context of Russian-Chinese scientific cooperation" was held. The sections of the conference were: "Archeology of the Amur Region" and "Ethnography of the Amur Region". Andrey Zabiyako, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, the Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Frontier Studies of Amur State University, outlined the keynote of the conference: two shores — one story.
Andrey Zabiyako said: "Amur gives us a vivid example when the river has two banks, but the peoples who live there have one story".
Two field seminars on the study of historical monuments of the left and right banks of the Amur River became an important part of the conference. The first seminar took place before the start of the plenary sessions on the Russian side, the second seminar was held in Heihe County, China after the completion of the sectional work. The result of the seminars was the deepening of mutual understanding between Russian and Chinese specialists on a number of aspects of the archaeology of the border territories.
The organizers of the conference emphasized that the goals and objectives of the conferences are closely linked by the guidelines defined by the "Priority 2030" Project. "We managed to combine the efforts of the Russian centers for the study of the history of the border territories of Russia and China, establish close coordination with Chinese experts in the field of research of current problems of archeology and ethnography of adjacent regions." An important result of the event was the systematization of the results of scientific research in the field of history, archeology and ethnography of the right and left banks of the Amur River: the participants mentioned that the results of research of the past decades were developed in the perspective of the latest achievements of historical knowledge about the history of the peoples of adjacent territories, their ethnogenesis and migrations. In their reports, Chinese participants reflected modern approaches to understanding the historical past and supported the idea of further integration of Russian and Chinese science in the field of studying common problems.
It is also significant that along with academicians, heads of institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other major specialists, young scientists took part in the conference; almost half of them are undergraduates and postgraduates from Russia and China. The reports of world-renowned scientists and discussions have become a good introduction to advanced knowledge for young people and a good support for the formation of the personnel potential of the future Far Eastern science.
Nikolay Kradin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of RAS, Chairman of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Historical Society, gave his assessment of the conference:
"We live in an amazing time from the point of view of the development of archaeology — there is a new scientific revolution in archaeology going on right now. There were three such revolutions. The first took place in the middle of the XIX century, and it is associated with the introduction of methods of classification, stratigraphy, evolutionism. The second was in the middle of the last century, when radiocarbon dating appeared and archaeologists could compare their typologies with exact dates, also new methods of archeological research appeared. And now there is a new revolution, which is connected with paleogenetics, and here it is necessary to note the remarkable contribution of Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko in this field, which allowed us to reconsider the evolution of mankind as a whole. The emergence of new methods of archeological research allows us to understand how the ancient population moved and migrated across the territory of our planet.
All this gives a lot of interesting new results, and researchers are now finding an accurate scientific justification for many hypotheses.
Yesterday we listened to a wonderful report about the Jade Road by Tang Chun, the Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of Shandong University ("The starting point of the Jade Road in the world: the discovery of the oldest stone bracelet in Denisova Cave and its great significance"). This all fits very well into the context of modern interesting ideas about the development of communications of mankind in various periods, including through such a great network communication as the Amur River and its numerous tributaries.
Another important aspect should be noted, which has great prospects for our joint research — this is a new leap in the research of the Altai problem, and in relation to our region – the Manchu-Tungusic problem. One of our joint tasks is to compare and be able to overlay the results obtained by archaeologists, paleogeneticists, linguists and, among others, ethnographers. The huge conglomerate of ethnic cultures, which belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic peoples, who lived on both banks of the great Amur River, deserves further study and problem solving at a deeper level of understanding of these issues.
It is necessary to support the strategy clearly outlined by the conference for further coordination of scientific research by scientists from Russia and China and express gratitude to the organizers of the conference."
The plenary report of Anatoly P. Derevyanko on the latest research in Altai, which opened new pages of the phylogeny of the genus Homo and the presentation of the collective monograph "Archeology and Ethnography of the Amur Region", dedicated to the anniversary of Academician A.P. Derevyanko, raised great interest among the conference participants. The authors of the monograph were Russian and Chinese scientists.
As part of the conference, a round table discussion on "Current problems of Archeology and Ethnography of the left and right banks of the Amur River in the context of Russian-Chinese scientific cooperation" was held. The sections of the conference were: "Archeology of the Amur Region" and "Ethnography of the Amur Region". Andrey Zabiyako, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, the Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Frontier Studies of Amur State University, outlined the keynote of the conference: two shores — one story.
Andrey Zabiyako said: "Amur gives us a vivid example when the river has two banks, but the peoples who live there have one story".
Two field seminars on the study of historical monuments of the left and right banks of the Amur River became an important part of the conference. The first seminar took place before the start of the plenary sessions on the Russian side, the second seminar was held in Heihe County, China after the completion of the sectional work. The result of the seminars was the deepening of mutual understanding between Russian and Chinese specialists on a number of aspects of the archaeology of the border territories.
The organizers of the conference emphasized that the goals and objectives of the conferences are closely linked by the guidelines defined by the "Priority 2030" Project. "We managed to combine the efforts of the Russian centers for the study of the history of the border territories of Russia and China, establish close coordination with Chinese experts in the field of research of current problems of archeology and ethnography of adjacent regions." An important result of the event was the systematization of the results of scientific research in the field of history, archeology and ethnography of the right and left banks of the Amur River: the participants mentioned that the results of research of the past decades were developed in the perspective of the latest achievements of historical knowledge about the history of the peoples of adjacent territories, their ethnogenesis and migrations. In their reports, Chinese participants reflected modern approaches to understanding the historical past and supported the idea of further integration of Russian and Chinese science in the field of studying common problems.
It is also significant that along with academicians, heads of institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other major specialists, young scientists took part in the conference; almost half of them are undergraduates and postgraduates from Russia and China. The reports of world-renowned scientists and discussions have become a good introduction to advanced knowledge for young people and a good support for the formation of the personnel potential of the future Far Eastern science.
Nikolay Kradin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Far Eastern Branch of RAS, Chairman of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Historical Society, gave his assessment of the conference:
"We live in an amazing time from the point of view of the development of archaeology — there is a new scientific revolution in archaeology going on right now. There were three such revolutions. The first took place in the middle of the XIX century, and it is associated with the introduction of methods of classification, stratigraphy, evolutionism. The second was in the middle of the last century, when radiocarbon dating appeared and archaeologists could compare their typologies with exact dates, also new methods of archeological research appeared. And now there is a new revolution, which is connected with paleogenetics, and here it is necessary to note the remarkable contribution of Academician Anatoly Panteleevich Derevyanko in this field, which allowed us to reconsider the evolution of mankind as a whole. The emergence of new methods of archeological research allows us to understand how the ancient population moved and migrated across the territory of our planet.
All this gives a lot of interesting new results, and researchers are now finding an accurate scientific justification for many hypotheses.
Yesterday we listened to a wonderful report about the Jade Road by Tang Chun, the Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of Shandong University ("The starting point of the Jade Road in the world: the discovery of the oldest stone bracelet in Denisova Cave and its great significance"). This all fits very well into the context of modern interesting ideas about the development of communications of mankind in various periods, including through such a great network communication as the Amur River and its numerous tributaries.
Another important aspect should be noted, which has great prospects for our joint research — this is a new leap in the research of the Altai problem, and in relation to our region – the Manchu-Tungusic problem. One of our joint tasks is to compare and be able to overlay the results obtained by archaeologists, paleogeneticists, linguists and, among others, ethnographers. The huge conglomerate of ethnic cultures, which belongs to the Manchu-Tungusic peoples, who lived on both banks of the great Amur River, deserves further study and problem solving at a deeper level of understanding of these issues.
It is necessary to support the strategy clearly outlined by the conference for further coordination of scientific research by scientists from Russia and China and express gratitude to the organizers of the conference."
