The use of cryogenic resources in the traditional economic activities of the Yakuts

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a historical and anthropological reconstruction of the traditional economic practices of the Yakuts, in which the most important place was occupied by the exploitation of cryogenic resources (cold, snow, ice, "permafrost"). The work is based mainly on the analysis of observations by researchers of the second half of the XIX – first half of the XX centuries, who recorded in the course of their expedition surveys a number of stories concerning the practices of the use of cryogenic resources by the Yakuts in economic activities. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of cryosophy, involving the study of the cold matter of the Earth through the prism of their role as an active element of the universe, a source of benefits and opportunities for humanity, as well as a historical and anthropological approach. The article for the first time shows a number of examples of successful and active exploitation of cold, snow, ice and "permafrost" in the traditional economic activities of the Yakuts within the framework of such a plan: cattle breeding and horse breeding, fishing and hunting, as well as in the organization of salt production. Based on accumulated materials, including documents from the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its St. Petersburg branch, the State Archive of the Irkutsk Region, the Scientific Archive of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society and the Manuscript Fund of the Archive of the Yakut Scientific Center SB RAS, the authors conclude that cryogenic resources were one of the important adaptation mechanisms Yakuts to the natural and geographical realities of Yakutia.