The Ymyyakhtakh culture (, ) was a Late Neolithic culture of Siberia, with a very large archaeological horizon, dating to c. 2200âÂÂ1300 BC. Its origins seem to be in the Lena River basin of Yakutia, and also along the Yenisei River. From there it spread to the east and west. Individual sites were also found in Taymyr.
It is named after Ymyyakhtakh, a settlement in the Sakha Republic, Russia.
A. Golovnev discusses Ymyyakhtakh culture in the context of a âÂÂcircumpolar syndromeâÂÂ:
The Ymyyakhtakh made round-bottomed ceramics with waffle and ridge prints on the outer surface. Stone and bone arrowheads, spears and harpoons are richly represented. Armour plates were also used in warfare. Finds of bronze ware are frequent in the burial grounds.
The culture was formed by the tribes migrating from the shores of Lake Baikal to the north, contacting and merging with the local substrate of the Bel'kachi culture.
After 1,700 BC, the Ymyyakhtakh culture is believed to have spread to the east as far as the Chukotka Peninsula, where it was in cultural contact with the EskimoâÂÂAleut language speakers, and the Paleo-Eskimos.
A ceramic complex comparable to the Ymyyakhtakh culture (typified by pottery with an admixture of wool) is also found in northern Fennoscandia near the end of the second millennium BC.
Ymyyakhtakh culture was later replaced by the Ust-Mil culture. One study has identified cultural parallels between Ymyyakhtakh culture and the Yukaghirs ethnic group, or perhaps with the Chukchi and Koryaks.