The Ymyyakhtakh culture (ɯm-mɯ-yakh-takh, Russian: Ымыяхтахская культура, romanized: Ymyyakhtakhskaya kul'tura) was a Late Neolithic culture of Siberia, with a very large archaeological horizon, dating to c. 2200–1300 BC. Its origins seem to be in the Lena river basin of Yakutia, and also along the Yenisei river. From there it spread to the east and west.[1] Individual sites were also found in Taymyr.
The Ymyyakhtakh made round-bottomed ceramics with waffle and ridge prints on the outer surface. Stone and bone arrowheads, spears and harpoons are richly represented. Armour plates were also used in warfare. Finds of bronze ware are frequent in the burial grounds.
The culture was formed by the tribes migrating from the shores of Lake Baikal to the north, contacting and merging with the local substrate of the Bel'kachi culture.
The carriers of culture are identified either with the Yukaghirs ethnic group,[3] or perhaps with the Chukchi and Koryaks. The Ymyyakhtakh culture persisted at least until the first centuries of our era. It was later replaced by the Ust-Mil culture.
A ceramic complex comparable to the Ymyyakhtakh culture (typified by pottery with an admixture of wool) is also found in northern Fennoscandia near the end of the second millennium BC.[5]
^Flegontov, Pavel; Altınışık, N. Ezgi; Changmai, Piya; Vajda, Edward J.; Krause, Johannes; Schiffels, Stephan (2016-09-13). "Na-Dene populations descend from the Paleo-Eskimo migration into America". bioRxiv10.1101/074476.
^Козлов, А. И.; Лисицын, Д. Д. (2008). "Происхождение, этническая история и традиционное природопользование саамов". In Козлов, А. И.; Лисицына, Д. В.; Козловой, М. А. (eds.). Кольские саамы в меняющемся мире (in Russian). Москва: Институт Наследия, ИЛ «АрктАн-С». p. 14. ISBN978-5-86443-148-1.