ИСТИНА

The matter of the discovery of Spitsbergen archipelago by the Russian Pomors before Willem Barents (1596) remains controversial and needs reinforcement with new data. The results of the dendrochronological analysis of the three Russian hunting stations at South Spitsbergen (Bjornbeinflyene, Palffyodden, and Schonningholmane) are presented. These stations were discovered during excavations conducted by the Polish archaeological expedition of Jagiellonian University in the Sorkappland and Hornsund fjord regions of Spitsbergen. Traditionally, the Pomor hunting huts were mostly prefabricated and brought from the mainland, and only the oldest ones were built of driftwood timber. Wood samples found during excavations are fragments of wood dwellings, monumental crosses, and a shipwreck. Measurements of annual growth widths were made and analyzed with help of radiocarbon dating and wiggle-matching method at the University of Science and Technology and the Laboratory of Absolute Dating (Krakow, Poland). Here we present the results of dendrochronological dating of some floating chronologies. In total, 8 samples of larch (3 pieces) and pine (5 pieces) were examined. These samples are constructional elements of dwellings, appearing to be prefabricates brought from the continent. To obtain absolute dates, these floating chronologies were cross-dated against more than 200 master tree-ring chronologies from Siberia, Komi, Archangelsk region, Karelia, Kola Peninsula, and Northern Fennoscandia, including our own data. Cross-dating was performed by CORINA software which includes t-values calculated with different detrending options. Samples from two stations (Bjornbeinflyene and Schonningholmane) were successfully dendro-dated with the existing master tree-ring chronologies. The dendro-dating obtained for the wood samples from these two stations were established as AD 1759-1812 (t=5.7; pine, Archangelsk region) and AD 1698-1776 (t=4.6; larch, Yamal Peninsula) respectively. The first dating does not contradict the results of radiocarbon and archaeological dating. The discovery of some relics in Bjornbeinflyene (kaolinite pipe) helped determine 1770-1810 as the time period when the hut was used. In other cases, additional information is required. Nevertheless, the second dating is consistent with the fact that since the XV century, the Pomors regularly went on their ships from Arkhangelsk to the Yamal Peninsula and the Gulf of Ob where they founded the town of Mangazeya. This route, known as the Mangazeya seaway, was an early precursor to the Northern Sea Route. Our results confirmed the radiocarbon wiggle-matching dating of Russian hunting stations at South Spitsbergen.