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Southern Sakha is at the southern edge of the subarctic, with timberline and
tundra to the north. It is a temperate region, with
plants you might find in southern Canada. Gardens are lush with
potatoes, carrots, cabbage, flowers, and dill; the deep forest surrounding
the town is almost entirely larch trees.
Yet we are only a few kilometers from the coldest place in the civilized world: in winter, temperatures have dropped below minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit. From an archaeological and geographical standpoint, we are in the heart of ancient Beringia. Alaska was attached to the eastern end of this great region by a wide belt of dry land; mile-thick sheets of glaciated ice separated it from North America. This landscape vanished ten thousand years ago.   
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