general questions Options

[Menko]

Some gewneral questions/observations about the trip:

there seem to be quite a few russian soldiers in the kurils,

are you enjoying the srcheology or the geology part more

which island have you enjoyed the most

[Misty_Nikula_Ohlsen]

There certainly were a lot of soldiers on the southern 3 islands - Kunashir, Iturup and Urup. We usually weren't even on shore for 10 minutes, even on seemingly deserted beaches, before we were approached by soldiers. Mostly they just watched to see that we were safe and kept an eye on us though. It could be because there are bears on those southern two islands or because they are still disputed by the Russian and Japanese government.

I think that if I had to choose only one, I would choose archaeology, by only because the geology can be rolled in with it and finding things that ancient people have left behind is very exciting.

I have only seen or visited about 8 of the 25 or so major islands, so I am not sure which Island I like best, yet. I will certainly decide before the end of the trip, though!

Mrs. N-O

[Sean_Topkok]

There certainly were a lot of soldiers on the southern 3 islands - Kunashir, Iturup and Urup. We usually weren't even on shore for 10 minutes, even on seemingly deserted beaches, before we were approached by soldiers. Mostly they just watched to see that we were safe and kept an eye on us though. It could be because there are bears on those southern two islands or because they are still disputed by the Russian and Japanese government.

I think that if I had to choose only one, I would choose archaeology, by only because the geology can be rolled in with it and finding things that ancient people have left behind is very exciting.

I have only seen or visited about 8 of the 25 or so major islands, so I am not sure which Island I like best, yet. I will certainly decide before the end of the trip, though!

Mrs. N-O

With the items found, what plans, if any, does Ben have for the descendents of the people to peruse the findings? Safe travels - Sean

[Misty_Nikula_Ohlsen]

Sean
There are relatively few native Ainu left to my understanding and most of them live in Japan, primarily Hokkaido. Given their history of persecution, both by the Russians and the Japanese, they have been rather hesitant to display their ancestry openly in the past, but this is slowly changing.
All of the artifacts will stay at the Sakhalin Regional Museum in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, where they will be studied and added to the public viewing collections there. Unfortunately, every time I tried to visit the museum, it was closed, but I was told that they have a very nice collection of Ainu and other artifacts on display.
Additionally, Ben plans to gather together all of the discoveries of all of the groups as they report on their findings and publish papers, so that the information can be accessed easily.
Misty