Lake Baikal - The Blue Eye of Siberia

Lake Baikal: Overview [ Top ]

Baikal - The Pearl of Siberia: a gem of a lake in the taiga forest of Siberia
Baikal Web World: in-depth look at Lake Baikal with facts, history, maps, and Lake Baikal Homepage: with photos, maps, links, more

Facts about Lake Baikal: beauty, size, origin, wildlife and name, plus FAQ for Lake Baikal & Angara River

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Lake Baikal

Baikal Terms: a glossary of geographical words such as logovo, the lair of the Baikal seal or nerpa, and Sarma, name of a river and a wind

Names given to Lake Baikal, including Baigal, perhaps a Yakut name, which evolved to Baikal as well as the Sacred Sea

Conservation Issues for Lake Baikal and an essay on Ozero Baikal as it is called in Russian

Lake Baikal and Human Impact: its biodiversity, one reason it has been called the Russian Galapagos. A UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

Lake Baikal - Cultural Treasure: to Russians what the Grand Canyon is to Americans, and a Lake Baikal photogallery with images of summer, winter

Photo Gallery of Lake Baikal: sunrise & sunset, Olkhon Island & Small Sea and a large panorama photo of Mukhor Bay at far right, Olkhon Gate (the entrance from Baikal proper), Small Sea and Olkhon Island, plus of view of Small Sea with Mukhur Bay & Olkhon Gate as seen from space

What is the world's most impressive inland body of water?

Lake Baikal Region: Geography [ Top ]

Fact Sheet on Baikal Geography: a wealth of data on the lake's length, width, depth, surface area, latitude, longiture, much more

Physical features of Lake Baikal: plus climate, flora, fauna, as well as the six major rivers flowing into the lake: Selenga, Chikoy, Khilok, Uda, Barguzin and Upper Angara rivers, and the oddities of Lake Baikal

Animals of Lake Baikal and a large photo of the distinctive Baikal seals with the name of nerpa

Plants of Lake Baikal: including old larches, alpine plants, and a photogallery of Lake Baikal plants, blooming wildflowers

Exploring Life in the World's Deepest Lake: the work of scientists in understanding the lake's creatures - story with 6 pages]

Profile of Lake Baikal: with a look at its geological origins, plus a map of the Lake Baikal watershed and photos of the lake and shore

Olkhon Island: Baikal's largest island, located on the west side of the lake, separating the main part of the lake from the Small Sea at the south end of which is Mukhor Bay, also called Mukhorskiy Bay, and more about Olkhon Island

Photos: Mukhur Bay & Small Sea and Olkhon Island & Baikal

Buryatia side of Baikal Lake (the Eastern shore) and Olkhon Island (the Western shore)

Angara River: the Upper Angara flows into Baikal’s north end, while the Angara River proper flows out the southwest end. The Angara flows into the Yenisei that flows into the Arctic Ocean. Illustrations of the Angara and why Angara is considered the tributary rather than the Yenisei

Lena River: rising in the Baikal mountains just west of the lake, the Lena flows to the Arctic Ocean. Its tributaries include the Aldan, Vitim

Geography of Eastern Siberia: home of Lake Baikal with one-fifth of all the melted fresh water on Earth, plus mountains, rivers and steppes, and more about Lake Baikal and its flora and fauna

East Siberian Taiga: the larch forests between the Yenisei and Lena Rivers, and around Baikal

Lake Baikal Region: Maps [ Top ]

Lake Baikal Map: showing Lena River headwaters north of Olkhon Island, with inset map showing location of Lake Baikal north of Mongolia and an inset chart showing depth of the lake

Lake Baikal Map: large detailed map with many bays, capes, islands, inflowing rivers, and key settlements

Map & Virtual Tour of Lake Baikal: click selected locations for details, and another colorful Baikal map

Map of Ozero Baykal or Lake Baikal: with mountain terrain shown, and another Baikal map with the region's major rivers shown including the Angara, the Lena, the Uda and Selenga

Map of Lake Baikal: southern end of the lake, Olkhon Island highlighted, and a Map of Lake Baikal's Small Sea with Olkhon Island

Map of Olkhon Island & Small Sea: detailed map with bays, capes, straits, smaller islands, including Muhor/Mukhor Bay at south end

Olkhon Island Map: landmarks, terrain in color, and insights about Baikal's Small Sea or Maloe More on the lake's west side

Map of Lake Baikal in regional context: Buryatia Republic to the east, Irkutsk Oblast to the west, cities of Irkutsk, Ulan Ude shown, and a larger version of the map and another Baikal Map with the region's cities

Map of Lake Baikal Region & North: the deepest lake on Earth, basins of north-flowing Yenisei and Lena Rivers, and some rivers that form the east-flowing Amur River, and an early map with the locations of Russian forts built in Lake Baikal region in the 1600s

Map of Russia & Siberia: with links to these regions:
· Russian Far East: Chita, Vladivostock, more, map
· Southern Mountains: Ulan-Ude, Irkustka, Lake Baikal, more, map

Map of Trans-Siberia Railroad: Russia and Siberia, with Lake Baikal on this famous rail route, and another view of the route

Lake Baikal Region: Cities & Peoples [ Top ]

Buryats on East Side of Lake Baikal: Republic of Buryatia is home to the Buryats, relatives of the Mongols, including a map

Irkutsk: major city on the Angara River, 70 km west of Lake Baikal

Ulan Ude: major city on the east side of Lake Baikal

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Crossroads Alaska:
Native Cultures of
Alaska and Siberia

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The Journey of Man:
A Genetic Odyssey

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People and the Land:
Pathways to Reform
in Post-Soviet Siberia

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Butterflies of
Transbaikal
Siberia

Lake Baikal Archaeology [ Top ]

Ice Age or Paleolithic Siberia: in-depth guide from WorkingDogWeb

Ice Age Siberia - Land of Wonders: illustratred introduction to Ice Age Siberia, with Map of Important Early Archaeological Sites

Archaeology of Siberia: key sites such as Mal'ta & Buret near Irkutsk, with rich finds, more on Malta, Tolbaga in Transbaikal, Dyuktai Culture

Archaeological Sites in Siberia: map with 27 sites including Mal'ta and Buret with remains of dwellings, tools and art, and Berelekh, a mammoth cemetary with a human "stand" or site nearby

Siberian Paleolithic's well known sites such as Kara Bom, 43,000 BP;
Mal'ta and Buret, dated to 23,000 BP, Studenoe 2 to 17,900 BP

Upper Paleolithic in Transbaikal: Studenoe, Tolbaga, and Masterov
Kliuch Upper Paleolithic sites east of Lake Baikal, including a map,
and more on discoveries at Masterov Kliuch

Geoarchaeology of Stud'onoye: a late Upper Paleolithic site situated on the Chikoi River in Transbaikal with microblade/wedge-shaped cores, and more on microblade technologies that apparently emerged in Transbaikal 18,000 years ago

Baikal Archaeology Project: the Kitoi and Serovo-Glazkovo Neolithic cultures over 9,000 years, with the theory that the latter hunted the nerpa or baikal seal, and the BAP team, plus research abstracts on topics including origins of Kitoi Culture, coastal-inland trading networks, more

Studying Ancient Peoples & Cultures around Lake Baikal, and more on the work of Andrzej Weber and his team discovering ancient artifacts around Lake Baikal: bone beads, bracelets of sea shells, green nephrite pendants

"Molecular Genetic Diversity of Indigenous Siberians: Implications for Ancient DNA Studies of Cis-Baikal Archeological Populations" - mtDNA haplogroups for Kitoi, Serovo-Glazkovo peoples, Theodore G. Schurr, 2004

Late Bronze Age in the Cis-Baikal Area: including Russian discoveries on the Angara River

Xiongnu or Hsiungnu Sites in Trans-Baikal: Ivolga complex 16 km from Ulan-Ude, in the Selenga Valley, east side of Lake Baikal, with map

Lake Baikal in a Siberian Context [ Top ]

Siberia's Land & Cultures: in-depth guide from WorkingDogWeb

Information about Siberia: size, geography, history, climate

Geography of Russia: map shows Siberia as about two-thirds of Russia with text covering land forms, climate, vegetation, population

Siberia: regions, culture, peoples, economy, history, more

Taiga and Tundra: home to the reindeer hunters and herders of Siberia

Map of Russia & Siberia: mountain ranges, plains, cities, with Lake Baikal in context, and a map of Russia & Siberia showing, west to east, the Ob, Irtysh and Lena Rivers, Lake Baikal, the Amur River and Bering Strait

Clink link to order A History of the Peoples of Siberia
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A History of the Peoples of Siberia:
Russia's North Asian
Colony 1581-1990

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Arctic Adaptations:
Native Whalers &
Reindeer Herders
of Northern Eurasia
including Chukchi

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The Chukchi &
their Neighbors

Native People of Siberia: Overview [ Top ]

Aboriginal People of the Russian North: links for many peoples from Aleuts to Chukchi to Kets to Yukagirs, and historic peopling of the Circumpolar North, 11,000 BCE to 500 CE, including map of Siberia with Altai and Sayan Mountains, Lake Baikal, Amur region, plus origins of reindeer herding, cultural development at Bering Strait

Map of Aboriginal Peoples of Siberia: including Paleo-Siberian, Altaic, and Uralic, with main rivers including the Lena, Yenisei and Ob, and more on Siberia's Indigenous Peoples

Map of Indigenous Ethic Groups: home areas for the Siberian Tundra Nentsi, Forest Nentsi, Selkups, Siberian Komi, Altais, Kets, Yakuts, Buryats, Evenks and Evens, Yukagirs, Chukchi and Asiatic Eskimos

Indigenous People of Siberia: illustrations of native dress, lifeways for the Evens, Evenki and Dolgans of Eastern Siberia, Khanty, Mansi and Selkups of Western Siberia, as well as Nenets, Nganasans, as well as illustrations of shamans and their masks & bird figurines

Native People of Siberia: the Altaic, Uralic and Paleo-Siberian groups of peoples, with links to information

People of Siberia: info on 14 native peoples of northern Siberia from the Chukchi and Koryak to Samoyed peoples, with map showing Lake Baikal, photos, and more on
· the role of wild and domestic reindeer in their lives
· their domestic life including tents, reindeer sleds
· objects for hunting & domestic & religious life
· shamanism and shaman's coat & bird symbolism and shaman's coat

People of Southern Siberia including a horseman of the Altai and one of these people's sacred places

Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire: info on 85 peoples of Russia and Siberia, Chukchi, Koryak, Itelmen, Eskimo, Yukagir, Evenks.

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First Fish, First
People: Salmon Tales
of the North
Pacific Rim
Story of the Ainu,
Ulchi, Nivkh,Salish,
Makah, Spokane
and more

Clink link to order Antler on the Sea
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Antler on the Sea:
The Yup'ik and Chukchi of the
Russian Far East

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Raven and the
Rock: Storytelling
in Chukotka

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Gaining Ground?
Evenkis, Land
and Reform in
Southeast Siberia

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The Vanishing Tungus: The Story
of a Remarkable
Reindeer People

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Shyaan Am!:
Tuvan Folk Tales

Peoples of Eastern Siberia, Russian Far East [ Top ]

The Ainu: People & Land & Culture: a guide from WorkingDogWeb

Ainu: native people originally of Sakhalin Island, the Kurile Islands and Hokkaido, Japan's northern Island, including the bear ceremonial, and more on Ainu Origins, and links between ancient Jomon and the Ainu

Ainu People from North Japan: photos and fishing techniques, and more on the Ainu of Sakhalin Island and Ainu & Nivkh & Orok of Sakhalin Island, and Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People exhibit online

Ainu Culture: part of the "Okhotsk culture" at southern end of the Sea of Okhotsk, with pictures of Ainu robes and a traditional Ainu house, and a look at the Ainu and the Okhotsk culture, the latter having "extensive trade routes which crossed these frozen waters, linking the Okhotsk peoples both to the Chinese Empire and to their far northern neighbours."

Chukchee People and Culture: the maritime and reindeer peoples, and more on the life of the reindeer Chukchi, with many pictures

Chukchi: from the Centre for Russian Studies, Norway, and more about the peoples of Russia & Siberia

Chukchi & Neighbors: people & environment, from WorkingDogWeb

Chukchi Origins: what recent genetic research tells us, through mtDNA and Y chromosome research, from WorkingDogWeb

Chukchi Origins in the Paleolithic: origins of Native Siberians and Native Americans, seen in archaeology, from WorkingDogWeb

Chukchi Photographs: and 130 photographs including sled dog teams, a pair of dogs helping a hunter haul home a seal, hunters and sled dogs

Chukotka: an ethnographic site with map, facts, photos including the Anadyr River, communities, reindeer camps, people, native dog

Crossroads of Continents Exhibit: Siberia & Alaska - meet the Chukchi, Koryak, Even, Amur River people in Siberia, Eskimo, Aleut, more

Ekven burial ground & settlement - Uelen, Chukotka: this 500 BC to 1000 AD site gives a look at Early Whale Hunter cultures, includes walrus ivory tools, human burial in a boat, dog burial. Ekven shamaness burial.

Evenk or Evenki: a people perhaps established through intermixing of Tungus and Yukagir people before the Russians arrived

Even & Itelmen of Western Kamchatka: a researcher studies their culture after the Soviet Union ended; photos of Even reindeer people

First Societies of the Circumpolar North: resources including:
· Aboriginal People of the Russian North· Aboriginal People of the North American North

Itelmen: native people of Kamchatka, and more on the ancient Itelmen

Jesup Expedition to Northeast Siberia: photographs of North Pacific peoples including the Ainu, Chukchi, and Itelmen of Siberia

Koryaks: history, language, culture of Koryaks, Chukchi's neighbors to the south, with photos of Koryak sled dogs, and a look at Kamchatka's Koryak and Itelmen and Evenk influence on Koryak reindeer herders

Native Folks of Siberia: Chukchi of Northeast Siberia, and the Ainu, Itelmen and Nivkh of Kamchatka and the Lower Amur River region, with photos of sled dogs of the Itelmen

Orochon or Orochi - Reindeer People of the Amur: a Tungus people, hunters and breeders of reindeer, who also hunted bear - many photos including Orochi, Koryak, Yukagir, with native dogs pictured

Peoples of Lake Baikal: Buryat, Evenk and Russian settlers, and the region's archaeological sites

Peoples of the Russian North and Far East: resources about the North Pacific peoples including the Chukchi, Koryak, Evenki and more

Reindeer People of the Mountain Taiga of Central Asia: Tsaatan, Todji-Tuvin, Soyot, and Tofilar peoples, and the Evenki, with maps

Rock Art in Russian Far East & Siberia: a window on ancient cultures, and comparison of Siberian native art from the Amur River, Chukotka areas

Yukagir: an ancient Siberian people, western neighbors of the Chukchi, and a short history of the Yukagir who once occupied a vast region

Mammoth Trumpet Archives: news of early Americans, connections with Asia and Siberia, from the Center for the Study of the First Americans
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