Expedition 2006

Summer 2006 was spent in the first of three project field expeditions to the Kuril Islands. In addition to the ship crew on the Russian ship “Gipanis”, this expedition included 21 scientists, 8 graduate students, 4 undergraduate students, a middle school teacher and a photographer – 35 project participants in all. This group spent 43 days (July 18 to August 30) visiting the Kuril Islands and conducting archaeological, geological, and paleoecological field investigations on a number of islands from the southernmost end of  Kunashir to the northernmost island of Shumshu (a linear distance of 1140 km).  In an effort to maximize the amount of research performed in a limited time frame, teams of archaeologists, geologists, and paleoecologists were deployed in remote field camps for periods of up to two weeks in promising locations while the ship took the remaining participants to other sectors of the archipelago for more rapid scientific surveys.  Teams went to shore at approximately 35 locations throughout the archipelago.