A Unique Publication for Russian Historical Scholarship Presented at VDNKh: The Academic History of Yugra in Eight Volumes

A publication unique in Russian historical scholarship has been presented at VDNKh: the Academic History of Yugra in eight volumes. It is the first project of its kind in Russia: a comprehensive study of the region's history, from the era of its settlement 18,000 to 16,000 years ago to the present day, has brought together the efforts of 130 scholars from three academic institutes, two universities, and federal and regional research institutions.

Why is the appearance of this book a truly serious event for our historical scholarship? Firstly, it is a continuous narrative of every aspect of the region's history from the earliest times; secondly, the work unites the labours of scholars of different disciplines and schools with the very latest discoveries. On the pages of the book one can find, for instance, evidence that the first fortified Russian settlement in the north of Western Siberia stood on the territory of Yugra, as well as descriptions of several dozen important archaeological finds made while the text was being prepared. Academician Nikolay Makarov, Director of the Institute of Archaeology, stressed the importance of the fact that in this edition the history of Yugra is organically inscribed in the general history of Eurasia and in the general history of Russia.

I managed to leaf through the edition, and the first thing one notices is the very deep attention given to archaeological antiquities and to the earliest history, drawing on fundamental archaeological collections, together with a remarkable survey of traditional culture and ethnic distinctiveness, and weighty studies of the present state of all the transformations that have made the taiga territory of the Khanty-Mansi District one of the pillars of Russia's prosperity.