--- title: "Archaeologists find 31 new petroglyphs on Russia’s Pegtymel River" description: "The Arctic expedition also produced a complete digital record of the isolated rock-art site in Chukotka, researchers said." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-09-29T23:52:08Z modified: 2026-09-30T01:19:11Z url: https://rews.cc/a/archaeologists-find-31-new-petroglyphs-on-russia-s-pegtymel--e8dea6 language: en tags: ["archaeology", "russia", "climate", "history", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Archaeologists find 31 new petroglyphs on Russia’s Pegtymel River *The Arctic expedition also produced a complete digital record of the isolated rock-art site in Chukotka, researchers said.* By rews desk · September 29, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/archaeologists-find-31-new-petroglyphs-on-russia-s-pegtymel--e8dea6 ## In brief - 31 previously unknown petroglyph surfaces found on Russia’s Pegtymel River in Chukotka, August 2026 - Total documented surfaces reaches 690 (institute) or 691 (expedition deputy head at briefing) - New locality “Keinynei I” with 9 surfaces found on a 10-km cliff stretch that earlier surveys missed - Team completed first full digital, 3D record of all known Pegtymel petroglyphs since starting in 2021 - Possible second prehistoric camp identified from stone and bone finds near 1968 excavation site Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences documented 31 previously unknown petroglyph surfaces along the Pegtymel River in Russia’s Arctic region of Chukotka during a field expedition in August 2026, the institute said in a statement. The find brings the number of documented rock-art surfaces at Pegtymel to 690, according to the [institute’s report](https://archaeolog.ru/press/articles/raboty-petroglificheskoy-ekspeditsii-ia-ran-na-chukotke-v-2026-g). At a news conference in Moscow on Sept. 29, Yuri Svoisky, deputy head of the Pegtymel petroglyph expedition, gave a total of 691 surfaces, up from 213 recorded in 1986, with nearly 100 added over the past four field seasons, according to a [report on the briefing](https://rodina-history.ru/2026/09/29/neizvestnye-nauke-petroglify-obnaruzheny-na-chukotke-otkrytie.html). > Their discovery points to the need to review the protected status of this part of Chukotka. Svoisky made the comment about the region’s federal monument status at the news conference, held at the International Multimedia Press Center in Moscow, according to the same report. The Pegtymel petroglyphs lie on the right bank of the river in northwestern Chukotka, a region researchers describe as among the most remote and difficult to reach in Asia. Archaeologist Nikolai Dikov began studying the site in 1967, documenting 103 rock compositions, and the Institute of Archaeology has carried out systematic fieldwork there since 2005, according to the institute. A team led by Elena Levanova of the Institute of Archaeology and Svoisky, of Moscow’s Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Spatial Data Analysis, has worked since 2021 to build a full digital record of the site, mapping individual panels, producing three-dimensional models and publishing some petroglyphs online. ## A new stretch of cliff The 2026 season extended the search beyond the main concentration of carvings, covering more than 10 kilometers of cliff on the river’s right bank between Keeneikuul Creek and the Kychakvaam River, the institute said. Dikov had found only two isolated petroglyph points there between the 1960s and 1980s, and later surveys in 2000, led by Mikhail Slobodzyan of the State Hermitage, and in 2005, led by Ekaterina Devlet of the Institute of Archaeology, found nothing new. This year’s systematic survey identified a previously unknown locality, named Keinynei I, containing nine decorated surfaces, according to the institute. Petroglyphs have now been confirmed on all four rock sections of the Keeneikuul-Kychakvaam escarpment. At the main Keeneikuul site, clearing partly buried rock blocks and re-examining ground once considered barren raised the number of known decorated surfaces there to 680, the institute said. The eastern part of that area had long appeared to hold no carvings. > The new petroglyphs differ significantly in style and execution from those already known in other parts of Pegtymel. Levanova, the expedition’s head, made the comment at the briefing, adding that the ancient carvers may not simply have depicted hunting scenes and animals but deliberately copied compositions that had proven successful over time, according to the report on the news conference. Researchers also collected stone and bone fragments scattered across the eastern part of Keeneikuul, tracing patterns of soil movement that may point to a second prehistoric camp east of the hunting site Dikov excavated in 1968, the institute said. Finds included a bone or antler point resembling a harpoon tip, a flaked pebble tool and a chalcedony scraper. ## Complete record, crumbling rock The institute said the main achievement of the 2026 season was completing a digital record of every currently known Pegtymel petroglyph, each fixed with geodetic precision, allowing researchers to refine the boundaries of the federally protected monument known as “Rock Carvings.” The work carries added urgency because the exposed Arctic rock continues to deteriorate: water freezing in cracks widens them until fragments break off and fall into the river, according to the institute. Researchers said the data will support conservation planning and an eventual public “virtual museum” giving remote access to a site few visitors can reach in person. The 2026 field season was funded by a grant from the Russian Geographical Society, with additional support from mining companies operating in the region and the administration of the Pevek municipal district, the institute said. ## See also - [Pegtymel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegtymel) — en.wikipedia.org · Background on the river and its Arctic rock-art site - [Возвращение на Пегтымель: первая за 13 лет экспедиция](https://archaeolog.ru/press/articles/vozvraschenie-na-pegtymel) — archaeolog.ru · Institute account of the 2021 expedition that restarted digital mapping - [Наскальное искусство Чукотки: цифровая эпоха археологических исследований](https://scientificrussia.ru/articles/naskalnoe-iskusstvo-cukotki-cifrovaa-epoha-arheologiceskih-issledovanij) — scientificrussia.ru · Coverage of the digital documentation methods used at Pegtymel