Memoirs of Kerim Bey Ratay: Unknown Turkmen History Source from the Late 19th Century to the First Third of the 20th Century

Статья посвящена малоизвестной биографии Керим бея Ратая, представителя туркменского народа, и его трактовки истории борьбы туркмен за самоопределение в первой трети ХХ века. Публикуемая записка представляет собой источник, который отражает разные проблемы, связанные с туркменской историей, содержит его размышления о ситуации в Средней Азии, об историческом процессе в Северной Евразии, сведения, которые, которые потребуют дополнительного изучения. Из приведенных им рассуждений следует, что туркмены испытывали неприятие навязываемого им большевиками пути общественного развития, борясь за самостоятельность. На его взгляд, борьба туркмен в условиях советской власти вовсе не прекратилась, а закончится только тогда, когда ими будет завоевана независимость, когда ими будет воссоздано собственное государство, что и произошло с распадом СССР. This article presents a biography of Kerim Bey Ratay, a Turkmen, and his interpretation of the Turkmen struggle for self-determination in the first third of the 20th century. The source published here reflects various problems of Turkmen history, contains Kerim's thoughts on the situation in Central Asia, and gives insight on the historical processes in Northern Eurasia, providing information that requires further research. His take on the situation indicates that the Turkmen people did not like the social development choices being forced on them by the Bolsheviks and were fighting for independence. In his opinion, the Turkmen struggle never ceased after the establishment of Soviet rule and that it would only end when the Turkmen gained independence and reestablished their own state – that is exactly what happened with the dissolution of the USSR.

Topology, Vegetation and Stratigraphy of Far Eastern Aapa Mires (Khabarovsk Region, Russia)

Aapa mires (string-flark fens) are one of the main types of mires in northern Eurasia. It has an almost continuous distribution from Scandinavia to Kamchatka, disappearing in continental climate areas and becoming one of the dominant types in more oceanic zones. This article first presents the topological features of string-flark aapa, their vegetation and peat stratigraphy related to different elements of microrelief at the southernmost borders of boreal mires of cryolithozone (51–52 N), in the Lower Amur region (Russia). String-flark fens are very similar to the aapa mires originally reported for the European North. The waterlogged minerotrophic central fen, with a ribbed surface pattern, is surrounded by oligotrophic bogs. The mosaic structure of the vegetation cover in the fens is determined by microtopography: mesooligotrophic dwarf shrub–herb–sphagnum strings, mesoeutrophic herb–sphagnum lawns, and sparse herb cover in water flarks. The flora, for the most part, corresponds with the European aapa, and has some characteristics of eastern features. We relate the localized evolution of string-flark complexes with water basin hydrology changes. The formation of string-flark complexes in pre-existing fens was preceded by the cessation of river flood waters over the surface of the mires. The further decline of erosion has led to the development of dwarf shrub–sphagnum communities containing microrelief. The immature strings of the aapa mires attest to the ongoing active change processes of the mires.

Analyzing Variations in the Association of Eurasian Winter–Spring Snow Water Equivalent and Autumn Arctic Sea Ice

Because Eurasian snow water equivalent (SWE) is a key factor affecting the climate in the Northern Hemisphere, understanding the distribution characteristics of Eurasian SWE is important. Through empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, we found that the first and second modes of Eurasian winter SWE present the distribution characteristics of an east–west dipole and north–south dipole, respectively. Moreover, the distribution of the second mode is caused by autumn Arctic sea ice, with the distribution of the north–south dipole continuing into spring. As the sea ice of the Barents–Kara Sea (BKS) decreases, a negative-phase Arctic oscillation (AO) is triggered over the Northern Hemisphere in winter, with warm and humid water vapor transported via zonal water vapor flux over the North Atlantic to southwest Eurasia, encouraging the accumulation of SWE in the southwest. With decreases in BKS sea ice, zonal water vapor transport in northern Eurasia is weakened, with meridional water vapor flux in northern Eurasia obstructing water vapor transport from the North Atlantic, discouraging the accumulation of SWE in northern Eurasia in winter while helping preserve the cold climate of the north. The distribution characteristics of Eurasian spring SWE are determined primarily by the memory effect of winter SWE. Whether analyzed through linear regression or support vector machine (SVM) methods, BKS sea ice is a good predictor of Eurasian winter SWE.

Patterns in the Population History of Northern Eurasia from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age, Based on Craniometry and Genetics

This study examines the craniometric differentiation of Northern Eurasian groups with reference to genetic and partly linguistic facts. Measurements of 66 series of male crania from that territory, dating to various periods from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age, were subjected to statistical methods especially destined for detecting spatial patterns, specifi cally gradients. Using the nonmetric multidimensional scaling of the matrix of D2 distances corrected for sample size, a two-dimensional projection of group constellation was generated, and a minimum spanning tree, showing the shortest path between group centroids in the multivariate space, was constructed. East-west clines in Northern Eurasia, detected by both genetic and craniometric traits, likely indicate not so much gene fl ow as isolation by distance, resulting from an incomplete evolutionary divergence of various fi lial groups constituting the Boreal meta-population. The western fi lial component, which, in Siberia and Eastern Central Asia, is mostly represented by Afanasyevans, has evidently made little contribution to the genetic makeup of later populations. The eastern fi lial component, which had appeared in the Cis-Baikal region from across Lake Baikal no later than the Neolithic, admixed with the autochthonous Paleosiberian component. The latter’s principal marker—the ANE autosomal component—had been present in Siberia since the Upper Paleolithic. Likewise autochthonous were both Eurasian formations—Northern and Southern; statis tical analysis has made it possible to make these more inclusive, whereby the former has been expanded in the eastern direction to include the Kuznetsk Basin, and the latter westwards, to the Middle Irtysh. Nothing suggests that Eastern European groups had taken part in the origin of either the Northern Eurasian formation or the proto-Uralic groups.

Inorganic Geochemistry of Crude Oils of Northern Eurasia after ICP-MS Data as Clear Evidence for Their Deep Origin

The emergence of mass-spectroscopy with inductively-coupled plasma (ICP-MS) made it possible to study the microelement composition of crude oil and its derivatives with the limit of detection (LOD) at the ppt level. We have studied the crudes from West Siberian (Shaimsky, Sredneobsky and Oktyabrsky regions) and Tatarstan Romashinskoye oilfields with the ICP-MS method to detect 50 rare, rare-earth, and other microelements. The elemental composition is reasonably comparable to their concentrations in ultrabasites whereas the contents of most of the elements are low to the limit. On the diagrams of rare-earth elements, one can see the prevalence of light lanthanides and positive europium anomaly. Increased content of platinoids was found in Tatar oils; in some cases, the concentration of ruthenium reaches 0.06 g/t. The study shows that studied crudes have a specific microelement composition. Based on the elevated contents of transit elements and platinoids, a conclusion was made about the “ultrabasic” geochemical–metallogenic specialization of studied petroleum systems and the assumption about its origin was proposed.

Habitat Selection by Brown Bears with Varying Levels of Predation Rates on Ungulate Neonates

In northern Eurasia, large carnivores overlap with semi-domestic reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and moose (Alces alces). In Scandinavia, previous studies have quantified brown bear (Ursus arctos) spring predation on neonates of reindeer (mostly in May) and moose (mostly in June). We explored if habitat selection by brown bears changed following resource pulses and whether these changes are more pronounced on those individuals characterised by higher predatory behaviour. Fifteen brown bears in northern Sweden (2010–2012) were fitted with GPS proximity collars, and 2585 female reindeers were collared with UHF transmitters. Clusters of bear positions were visited to investigate moose and reindeer predation. Bear kill rates and home ranges were calculated to examine bear movements and predatory behaviour. Bear habitat selection was modelled using resource selection functions over four periods (pre-calving, reindeer calving, moose calving, and post-calving). Coefficients of selection for areas closer to different land cover classes across periods were compared, examining the interactions between different degrees of predatory behaviour (i.e., high and low). Bear habitat selection differed throughout the periods and between low and high predatory bears. Differences among individuals’ predatory behaviour are reflected in the selection of habitat types, providing empirical evidence that different levels of specialization in foraging behaviour helps to explain individual variation in bear habitat selection.

Overview of current and expected seasonal climatic anomalies for the winter 2021/2022 with their possible impact on the economy, as estimated by the meteorological services of the CIS countries

Based on assessments of the meteorological services of the CIS countries, the skill scores of the consensus forecast for the territory of Northern Eurasia for the summer of 2021 are presented. The results of monitoring circulation patterns in the stratosphere and troposphere over the past summer season are discussed. Climate monitoring and seasonal forecasting results for the current situation are presented. A probabilistic consensus forecast for air temperature and precipitation is presented for the upcoming winter season 2021/2022 in Northern Eurasia. Possible consequences of the impact of the expected anomalies of meteorological parameters on the economy sectors and social life are discussed. Keywords: North Eurasian Climate Forum, North Eurasian Climate Center, consensus forecast, air temperature, precipitation, large-scale atmospheric circulation, hydrodynamic models, sea surface temperature, impacts

Typology of number systems in languages of Western and Central Siberia

This paper investigates the linguistic expression of number in seven languages from Western and Central Siberia. In a first step the number system of each language is described in detail, and afterwards the most relevant convergences and divergences of the languages are dealt with. Three particularly interesting phenomena are discussed in more detail: First, it is shown that the concept of general number, denoting noun forms underspecified for number, is able to account for a range of related phenomena (unmarked noun forms after numerals, nouns denoting paired objects). Second, singulatives in Selkup, Ket and partly Eastern Khanty are analyzed, whereby it is argued that their similar morphosyntactic and grammaticalization patterns allow for analyzing them as a contact phenomenon. Third, two splits on the animacy hierarchy between the first and second person in Dolgan as well as Chulym Turkic are presented. Finally, the results are evaluated against a broader areal-typological background, whereby it is shown that the category of number does not support any larger areal groupings within Western and Central Siberia, but that the analyzed languages rather adhere to patterns of number marking present all over Northern Eurasia.