Premier of the film “Mystery of the White Cave. Tsagaan Agui”

On May 31, 2023, the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the premiere of a film dedicated to the endeavors of the international archaeological expedition in Tsagaan Agui Cave in Mongolia.

During the film show, numerous members of the expedition were in attendance, notably its principal investigator and the initial leader from the Russian team, Anatoly Derevianko, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When opening the show, Anatoly told that he had worked for at least 20 field seasons in Mongolia, and he can now say that the country is one of his favorite in the entire world. “I love Mongolia because I was never tired there. It has different air and spirit of freedom”, - these were the words of the Academician. 

The spectators asked many questions related to the expedition logistics and daily life specifics, to arranging cooperation in a large scientific expedition involving three countries. They also wanted to know how large should ancient populations be to survive and transfer their genes and cultural traditions to next generations, and whether they lived in the caves permanently (according to a stereotype), or occasionally visited them. The expedition members, i.e. Andrey Krivoshapkin, D. Sc. (History), Associate Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Evgeny Rybin, Lead Researcher of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Arina Khatsenovich, Cand. Sc. (History), Senior Researcher of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, answered the questions.

The film is shown under the “By Way of Millennia: Virtual Tours to Stone Age sites in Central and North Asia” project, supported by a grant issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia as a part of the “Science and Technology Communication” federal project.

Tsagaan Agui Cave, which is very hard-to-access in real life, can be seen both in the film and during the virtual tour.

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