Russia is rich in palaeontological specimens, but its brutal war in Ukraine is threatening the research and relationships that help uncover the past.
Siberia is a treasure trove for palaeontologists. For more than a decade, Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, has travelled to Russia every couple of years to hunt for the remains of mammoths and other ice-age creatures preserved in permafrost. Earlier this year, after two years of pandemic restrictions, Dalén and his team were preparing to leave on a long-delayed research expedition to the Russian wilds.
But in February, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, “everything has changed”, he says. Amid travel restrictions and sanctions, Dalén was forced to cancel the expedition. His situation is far from unique.
The war has plunged many scientists with ties to Russia into a state of uncertainty about the future of their research and their relationships with Russian colleagues. Between sanctions, collapsing collaborations and cancelled fieldwork, the study of the past through Russia’s often exquisitely preserved palaeontological specimens has become an unexpected casualty of war.
What exactly the conflict will mean for the field is still unclear. But Dalén says one thing is certain: “We will know less about the past because of this war.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine is disrupting studies of ancient life
Siberia is a treasure trove for palaeontologists. For more than a decade, Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, has travelled to Russia every couple of years to hunt for the remains of mammoths and other ice-age creatures preserved in permafrost. Earlier this year, after two years of pandemic restrictions, Dalén and his team were preparing to leave on a long-delayed research expedition to the Russian wilds.
But in February, Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, “everything has changed”, he says. Amid travel restrictions and sanctions, Dalén was forced to cancel the expedition. His situation is far from unique.
The war has plunged many scientists with ties to Russia into a state of uncertainty about the future of their research and their relationships with Russian colleagues. Between sanctions, collapsing collaborations and cancelled fieldwork, the study of the past through Russia’s often exquisitely preserved palaeontological specimens has become an unexpected casualty of war.
What exactly the conflict will mean for the field is still unclear. But Dalén says one thing is certain: “We will know less about the past because of this war.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine is disrupting studies of ancient life