Russian mini-subs to search Baikal for sunken treasures

Russian mini-subs to search Baikal for sunken treasures (NSI News Source Info) NOVOSIBIRSK August 15, 2008 - Two Russian mini-submarines will dive to the bottom of Siberia's Lake Baikal next week to search for "archaeological artifacts," a spokesman for the Baikal preservation foundation said Friday. The expedition in the Mir-1 and Mir-2 mini-submarines will examine the lakebed where the Selenga River flows into Baikal. The region is situated on the southeastern shore where ancient transport routes cross. Baikal, called the Sacred Sea by locals for its size and beauty, is the world's oldest and deepest lake, with an age estimated at 25 million years. It holds around 20% of the planet's freshwater and is home to hundreds of unique species of fauna and flora. According to previous archaeological findings, the territory near the lake, also known as the Blue Eye of Siberia, has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Located in southern Siberia, near the Mongolian border, Baikal's shores were home to the Eurasian Hun tribes in the 3rd century B.C. Among the many treasures rumored to have disappeared into Baikal's depths are several sacks of gold, taken from the Imperial Russian reserves and carried across the ice by Admiral Alexander Kolchak's White forces fleeing the Bolsheviks in the winter of 1919-1920. Some of the officers reputedly froze on the ice as temperatures dropped to 60 degrees Celsius below zero, and the treasure sunk when the spring thaw came. Although the Kolchak story is unproven, several other cases of lost treasure have been documented. Russian tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolyets quoted explorer and treasure-hunter Sergei Nadyozhdin as saying: "Some cases in which money and other valuables went to the bottom of the lake are known from documents." He cited an incident in December 1886, when seven horse-drawn carriages carrying 1,000 silver rubles each attempted to cross the lake ice. The ice cracked, and the leading troika sunk in the lake a few hundred meters from the shore, while the rest rushed back to land, with the result that "several poods [16 kg units] of silver still lie at the bottom." The paper quoted historian Veniamin Kropotkin as saying: "Over the past 150-200 years, plenty of goods have sunk to the bed of the 'world's purest lake' - carts, wagons, steamships, automobiles." In 1993, ice on the rail line near the village of Tankhoi caused an entire freight train to hurtle into the water, where it remains to this day, he told the paper. "Divers have already tried to investigate some objects, which sunk in shallower waters. On the lake's bed near the village of Listvyanka, for example, a 1.5-meter cannon was discovered," the historian said. The participants stress that searching for archaeological artifacts is not the main goal of the research expedition, which is largely focused on studies of the lake's unique ecosystem. The two-year expedition, which started at the end of July, will include around 160 dives in various parts of the lake. A team of U.S. oceanologists has also been invited to join the Lake Baikal exploration next week.