The strongest impression from Archeopark is got by those who did know anything about it before their arrival in Khanty-Mansiysk - the surprise effect works.
You are traveling by car or by bus through the ring road, the picturesque hills covered with dense pine forest stand on one side of it, Ob flows on the other side ... And then behind the next hill you see a herd of mammoths with their babies, a couple of woolly rhinoceroses and a herd of primeval buffaloes .
It’s hard not to recall the “homeland of elephants”. They say this expression appeared in XIX century, when the interest to the numerous findings of mammoth bones in the northern regions reached the capital. The locals have long got used to the huge bones and tusks, which were found along the river banks from time to time. The bones were in demand both as a decorative material and as a precursor of Viagra (chop and mix it with warm water, then drink ...).
The first scientific description of the areas of finding of fossils dates back to XVIII century: on a par with Yakutsk and Obdoria (the surroundings of Salekhard, the former Obdorsk) they mention Yugoria – the modern Yugra. The glorious prehistoric past of the Khanty and Mansi Autonomous District is vividly brought back today by the Archeopark with bronze sculptures of ancient animals - by the way, it is not an eccentric fun of an oil company, but a branch of the respectable institution, the Khanty-Mansi Museum of Nature and Man.
In addition to the already mentioned eleven mammoths, four primeval buffaloes and two woolly rhinoceroses, there are a cave lion (1 pc), cave bears (3 pcs) a large-horned deer (1 pc), a herd of prehistoric horses, a pack of wolves, beavers and an early man site. The prehistoric company is located at the foot of Samarovsky ice rock pillar. Simply said, the layers of ancient rocks left after the destruction of the higher mountain region rise over the mammoth and his comrades. This place per se is a unique geological and paleontological monument, the time petrified.
All these facts make the Archeopark not an entertainment facility, but a philosophical object: the ancient inhabitants of the Khanty and Mansi Autonomous District installed on glacial mountain - both animals and people whose sites belong to the Paleolithic era - symbolize the continuity of history. The entrance to the Archeopark is free, there are no weekends and time limits – the Archeopark is located at an open area.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina