The project team. Photo provided by the expedition members
The famous «bone lens» on the Tobol River near the city of Kurgan has once again shared with researchers unique artifacts that can tell about the distant and recent past of our planet. Participants in an expedition project from several branches of the RGS never return empty-handed. In January 2025, they extracted bones of ancient animals, teeth of prehistoric fish, a fragment of pottery from the 17th–18th centuries, as well as other interesting finds from a kind of «underwater archive».
Activists of the regional branches of the Russian Geographical Society have been engaged in underwater excavations on the Tobol for more than 20 years. Field work is carried out mainly in winter. Why this is more convenient for researchers was previously described by the participants of the expeditions Sergei Kondrashin, a member of the Council of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the RGS, and Vladislav Derbyshev, head of the Sysert Branch of the RGS.
The place of work. Photo provided by the participants of the expedition
According to Vladislav Derbyshev, this time the work on the Tobol was carried out in difficult conditions. However, the «historical storeroom» never ceases to delight with its gifts, evidence of millions of years of Earth’s history.
«When we went on this expedition, we didn’t know what to expect. The fact is that in the spring of 2024, the city of Kurgan experienced the third largest flood. Streams of water demolished houses in the area where we are conducting our searches, the entire territory fell into the flood zone. The bottom could have been littered with various debris after the natural disaster, and this, in turn, increases the diving risks. The river level had risen, the current had become stronger, visibility was almost several tens of centimeters. Diving in such conditions is very risky, the safety rope can get tangled on large bottom debris.
But the Tobol pleased us with the finds. Despite all the difficulties, we managed to find the bones of ancient animals of the mammoth fauna, raise the soil from the bottom, where there are a large number of fossilized remains of representatives of the ichthyofauna of the West Siberian Sea. We were also lucky enough to find a small fragment of pottery, presumably from the 17th–18th centuries,» Derbyshev said.
Preparation of the ice hole. Photo provided by the expedition members
Underwater exploration on the Tobol River has been conducted under the auspices of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the RGS since 2004. Presumably, the Turgai Strait of the West Siberian Sea was located in this place in the distant past. The river eroded the soft sediments and exposed areas of the bottom with preserved remains of marine fauna: teeth of ancient sharks and rays; vertebrae, fin bones, and jaws of fish; shells of mollusks. Divers have also managed to find bones of such animals as mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, ancient bison, giant Irish elk, caribou, saiga antelopes, ancient tarpan horses, cave lions, and giant bears.
The finds recovered from the bottom of the Tobol allowed scientists to make a number of discoveries: a new species of bison (called bison X), a new species of ancient shark, a new species of prehistoric stingray. It was also found that the previously considered cold waters of the Turgai Strait were warm, inhabited by animals of equatorial and sub-equatorial latitudes.
In 2015, divers found a fragment of a ceramic vessel from the Neolithic period at the bottom of the river. This helped to discover a previously unknown ancient human site. After conservation, all the finds were transferred to various museums in the country.
Dive to the treasures of the "bone lens". Photo provided by the expedition members
«Yekaterinburg divers have been exploring the bottom of the Tobol River in the Kurgan suburb for many years and sharing their findings with museums. These very enthusiastic people continue the traditions of patronage in Russia,» said Olga Eliseeva, a representative of the History Museum of Kurgan.
In 2025, the expedition was conducted from January 2 to January 4. It was attended by representatives of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the RGS and the Ural diving center «Triton». One of the most interesting finds was the teeth of an ancient archaeomancer, an extinct genus of stingrays, discovered for the first time.
As noted by Vladimir Kozlov, an expert on fossil sharks, stingrays have great species variability, and it is always difficult for scientists to identify them.
«We need to collect more material for final conclusions about the new species. Several collected samples of ancient manta ray teeth have not yet been determined. The search for fossils of the stingray family has always been a difficult issue for scientists due to the small size of their dentition and the small number of finds in the world,» Vladimir Kozlov emphasized.
The study of the finds. Photo provided by the expedition members
Sergei Kondrashin, a member of the Council of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the RGS, noted that in winter it was very difficult to find tiny teeth of rays under the ice. Their size usually does not exceed 2 mm.
«But it turned out to be an exceptionally exciting activity for several generations of Yekaterinburg divers. Almost all the finds were made in sedimentary rocks of the 'Tavda formation’, which accumulate fossilized fragments of ancient ichthyofauna. Gradually, underwater explorers from other regions of the country are joining us. Ice diving has moved from the field of sports to the field of research. Children always participate in these expeditions. These are the most vivid memories of winter holidays for them,» Sergei Kondrashin said.
Taisiya Kosheleva is only 10 years old, but this is the third year she has been going to the Tobol with her parents for the winter holidays.
«There, together with my brother, I help in the search for shark teeth from the soil raised from the bottom. Then I happily talk about it at school. I want to become a diver,» Taisiya confessed.
Aleksandr Zhirnov