Archaeologists from the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences have discovered four Late Neolithic settlements (2nd-1st millennia BC) on the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk region.
The settlements are believed to belong to the ancient Scandinavian Gressbakken culture, Eurasia Today, a partner of TV BRICS, reported.
The excavations, part of a multi-year project in the region, are conducted in remote areas accessible only by specialized transport. In 2024, researchers investigated several sites, including an early Neolithic dwelling.
Near this dwelling, they found the remains of a traditional four-cornered, truncated-top pyramid used by the Sámi, an indigenous people of the Russian Federation. Inside, archaeologists unearthed approximately 22,000 artefacts, ranging from stone tools to household items.
“The significance of these findings lies in the fact that the Kola Bay has undergone a powerful industrial development in a hundred years. There is no doubt that in ancient times there were many settlements and camps on its shores.
However, there is little chance that they have survived to this day,” said Evgeny Kolpakov, head of the field expedition and leading researcher of the Palaeolithic Department of the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “Taking into account the latest results, in recent years we were able to discover six more sites and six more settlements with dwellings from the Stone and Bronze Ages.”
