Pre-conference field trip over the border of Europe and Asia (September, 11):

DESCRIPTION. Typical landscape and sites of the Middle Urals: Late Pleistocene - Holocene locality DyrovatyKamen’ on the Serga River (karst grottos, Late Pleistocene to Holocene deposits with a total thickness up to 3.3 m, five stages of the vertebrate fauna development, archaeological findings from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, spores and pollen, radiocarbon dates). Grottos of Polovinka 1 (Late Pleistocene) and Svetlyi (Holocene) – palaeosols, spores and pollen, vertebrate fauna, radiocarbon dates, thermo-gravimetrical and mass-spectrometric methods, used to analyze physical and chemical features and trace element composition of bone remains.

NOTES. The excursion involves about 6 km of comfortable walking routes in Olen’i Ruch’i Natural Park and a picnic or café lunch (depending on weather).

COSTS: €40

SUPPORT: Supported by Olen’I Ruch’I Natural Park http://www.olen.ur.ru

Excursion to non-karst grottos and peat bogs of the eastern slope of the Middle Urals (September, 16):

DESCRIPTION. Shaitanoozersky Kamennyi Ostrov -1 (ShKO) is a non-karst grotto located about 60 km north of Ekaterinburg, 1.5 km from the highway (forest road, can be wet after rains). ShKO is a unique archaeozoological locality in the granite grotto. Pleistocene layers yield vertebrate remains (large and small mammals, birds, fish) dated back to 24 000 years B.P. Holocene layers yield faunal remains and archaeological findings from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age. Spores and pollen are analyzed over the whole section.

Shigir Peat Bog is situated about 70 km north of Ekaterinburg. There are 6 meters of peat deposits over gold-bearing sands. Shigir Peat Bog is known by the remains of settlements of the fourth to second millennia B.C. and also by Shigir Idol – an ancient anthropomorphic wooden sculpture found in 1890 and dated back to 9500 years B.P. (this idol is exhibited in the Museum of Local Lore in Ekaterinburg, near the conference venue). Detailed sequences of spores and pollen and also plant macrofossils are obtained for the deposits.

Gorbunovo Peat Bog is about 97 km north-north-west of Ekaterinburg. Sapropel and peat deposits with a total thickness of about 4 m, lower layers are dated back to 9800 years B.P. The well-documented sequence of cultural layers includes the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Eneolithic layers with artifacts, plant macrofossils, spores and pollen, invertebrates (insects).

NOTES. The excursion involves some bus and about 1.5 km hiking along forest roads, can be wet after rain. We will also stop in Nevyansk, a small historical town known by the Leaning tower of Nevyansk built between 1725 and 1740.

We will return to Ekaterinburg not later than 20.00 in the evening

COSTS: €50 (Transportation, lunch in a restaurant and visiting the Nevyansk Tower)

SUPPORT: Supported by the Institute of history and archaeology UrB RAS http://www.ihist.uran.ru

and Artel "NEIVA" http://www.neiva.ru

Two-day excursion to the Southern Trans-Urals: Day 1. (September, 14-15)

DESCRIPTION. Coal quarries in the Trans-Uralian peneplain: Baturino, Miass. Fluvial, lacustrine, lacustrine-and-fluvial sediments from the Early to Late Pleistocene, and palaeosols.

Baturino quarry: primarily lacustrine sedimentation, three formations of the Southern Trans-Urals: Chumlyak (Upper Pliocene - Lower Pleistocene), Sarykul’(upper Lower Pleistocene), Baturino (Middle Pleistocene) , palaeomagnetic data (Cob Mountain, Jaramillo, Matuyama-Brunhes transition, Big Lost) . Mammal and mollusk assemblages.

Miass quarry: fluvial and lacustrine deposits in Miass city (near the Ilmensky Nature Reserve). Exposures in the Miass quarry are situated in terrace deposits above the present floodplain of the Miass river. The sequence ranges from Early to Middle Pleistocene and includes the Miass fluvial complex (Sarykul formation) and the Miass pedocomplex with five palaeosols. Palaeomagnetic data indicate Jaramillo and the Matuyama-Brunhes transition). The data encompass large mammal remains, ostracods, spores and pollen.

NOTES. We will have a long enough trip by bus and some walking around the quarries (might be dirty when it rains)

COSTS: €190 (Two days: transportation, meals, overnight stay in a tourist center near the Turgoyak lake and Conference Dinner)

SUPPORT: Supporters are welcome!

Two-day excursion to the Southern Trans-Urals: Day 2. (September, 14-15)

DESCRIPTION. Caves and shelters on the Asian and European side of the Southern Urals:

Ustinovo rock shelter. Karst localities in Ustinovskiy canyon.

Archaeological data, faunal remains (small and large mammals) dating back to the end of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.

Ignatievskaya Cave. Karst cave with Paleaeolithic painting. Lower layers correspond to Mikulino (=Eemian) interglacial. Taphonomy, mammalian assemblages, spores and pollen, palaeoclimate reconstructions.

NOTES. The excursion involves bus, hiking (about 2 km) and visiting caves. Access to the most interesting parts of Ignatievskaya Cave with ancient art involves crowling through tunnels (optional). We will return to Ekaterinburg about 23.00 (please remember that accommodation in Ekaterinburg is not included in the excursion fee)

COSTS: See day 1

SUPPORT: Supported by the Equipment Center VEK http://www.ekipirovka.ru