Journey to the Ice Age: Retrieving Bone Samples from the Batagay Crater for Ancient Discoveries

In Expedition Unknown: Journey to the Ice Age, Josh Gates travels deep into the Siberian wilderness to investigate one of the most intriguing sites on Earth — the Batagay Crater. This massive depression in the permafrost has revealed ancient remains, including the bones of Ice Age animals.

The team aims to retrieve well-preserved bone samples that could contain viable woolly mammoth DNA.

They journey from the edge of the crater to remote riverbanks where tusk hunters dig up bones locked in frozen ground for thousands of years. Working in extreme conditions, the team collects specimens that could help scientists understand — and possibly revive — long-extinct species.

They bring these samples back to a lab for testing. The expedition connects ancient history with modern science.

The mission uncovers physical links to the Ice Age and raises questions about climate change’s role in exposing these ancient remains.

Overview of the Journey to the Ice Age

Josh Gates travels through remote Siberia to search for preserved mammoth remains. He collects ancient bones from permafrost and transports them for DNA testing.

Purpose of the Expedition

The main goal of this episode is to find a viable sample of mammoth DNA. Scientists use this genetic material to study the species and its environment.

Josh Gates joins local experts to find bones preserved in frozen ground for thousands of years. These remains provide clues about the mammoth’s biology and how it adapted to harsh Ice Age climates.

The team documents the process of retrieving, transporting, and analyzing these samples. They show the difficult conditions researchers face in extreme cold and isolation.

Key Locations Explored

The Batagay crater is a massive depression in Siberia caused by thawing permafrost. It exposes layers of earth that date back tens of thousands of years.

The team also travels upriver into the wilderness to meet tusk hunters. These hunters dig through frozen ground to recover mammoth tusks and bones.

The area is remote and sparsely populated. Infrastructure is limited.

Travel between locations involves long boat rides and trips in off-road vehicles. Weather can change quickly, adding to the challenge.

Batagay crater is unique because melting permafrost naturally reveals new material. This makes it valuable for paleontological work.

Significance of the Batagay Crater

Locals often call the Batagay crater the “gateway to the underworld” because of its size and depth. As the permafrost thaws, the crater expands, exposing ancient soil, plants, and animal remains.

Researchers gain rare access to well-preserved Ice Age material without heavy excavation. Bones found here are often in better condition than those from other sites.

Josh Gates gathers mammoth bone samples from the crater for analysis. Scientists then take the samples to a lab to try to extract DNA.

The crater’s layers date back hundreds of thousands of years. Studying these layers helps researchers understand past climate conditions and how they affected Ice Age species.

For more details about this expedition, see the Journey to the Ice Age episode of Expedition Unknown.

The Batagay Crater: Gateway to the Past

The Batagay Crater in northeastern Siberia is the largest known permafrost depression on Earth. It exposes ancient frozen ground and sediments that date back hundreds of thousands of years.

This gives scientists a rare look into past climates and ecosystems.

Formation and Expansion

The crater began forming in the 1960s after nearby deforestation removed insulating vegetation. Without this cover, the permafrost thawed, causing the ground to sink and collapse.

This process created what scientists call a retrogressive thaw slump. Over time, the slump widened as heat reached deeper into the frozen ground.

Between 1991 and 2018, satellite images show the crater’s size tripled. Today, it measures about 990 meters across and continues to grow each year.

The south-facing slope retreats fastest, as sunlight warms the ice-rich soil there. This ongoing expansion makes the site valuable for research and highlights rapid environmental change in the Arctic.

Geological Features

The exposed walls of the Batagay Crater show layers of frozen soil, ice, and sediment. These layers act like a timeline, recording environmental conditions over hundreds of thousands of years.

Some of the permafrost here is about 650,000 years old. Scientists can study ancient plant material, pollen, and preserved animal remains.

Researchers have found fossils from extinct species such as mammoths and prehistoric horses. The sediments also trap greenhouse gases like methane, which can be released as the ice melts.

The crater’s shape, often seen as a tadpole from above, changes as erosion reshapes its edges. This shifting landscape creates new opportunities for geological and climate research.

Environmental Challenges

The rapid thawing of permafrost at Batagay releases carbon and methane into the atmosphere. This adds to climate change and speeds up Arctic warming.

Nearby rivers receive more sediment as thawed soil washes into waterways. This affects water quality and aquatic life.

Fieldwork at the site is difficult because of unstable ground, extreme cold in winter, and muddy conditions in summer. Researchers work quickly during the short Arctic summer before snow and freezing temperatures return.

The continued growth of the megaslump threatens the surrounding landscape, including vegetation and wildlife habitats.

Retrieving Bone Samples from the Batagay Crater

The Batagay crater in Siberia exposes ancient layers of permafrost where preserved animal remains are often found. Researchers travel to this remote site to recover well-preserved bone samples that may contain viable DNA.

Bone Discovery Process

The Batagay crater, sometimes called the “gateway to the underworld,” is a massive thaw slump caused by melting permafrost. Its exposed walls show layers of soil and ice dating back thousands of years.

As the permafrost thaws, bones from Ice Age animals such as mammoths, bison, and horses become visible. These remains often stick out from the soil or lie on the crater floor after erosion loosens them.

Researchers and local tusk hunters scan the area visually, looking for shapes, textures, or colors that stand out from the rock and ice. Dark brown or ivory-colored fragments often mean bone or tusk material.

Once they find a specimen, they record its location. This helps scientists track the depth and layer where each sample was found.

Sample Collection Techniques

Researchers use small picks, brushes, and shovels to free bones from frozen soil and avoid damage. Sometimes, they use warm water or steam to gently melt the surrounding ice and prevent cracking.

Scientists wear gloves and use clean instruments to avoid contamination. They put each bone sample in a sterile bag or container with labels that include GPS coordinates, depth, and date.

For fragile specimens, padding and insulated boxes protect them during transport. This is important when traveling long distances to research labs.

Safety Precautions

The Batagay crater is remote and unstable, so safety is critical. The steep walls can collapse without warning as thawing permafrost weakens the ground.

Researchers avoid working under overhangs or loose ice. They watch weather conditions closely, since heavy rain or warming can trigger landslides.

Protective clothing is essential in the Siberian wilderness. Insulated boots, waterproof layers, and gloves protect against cold and wet conditions.

Teams work in pairs or groups for safety. They carry communication devices, GPS trackers, and emergency supplies in case of injury or evacuation.

For more details on the expedition, see how Josh Gates explored the Batagay crater for mammoth DNA.

Josh Gates and the Expedition Team

Josh Gates leads the journey into Siberia with a clear goal—secure well-preserved mammoth remains that could yield usable DNA. The team combines field survival skills with scientific expertise to work in one of the most remote and coldest regions on Earth.

Background of Josh Gates

Josh Gates is best known as the host of Expedition Unknown. He has a background in archaeology and anthropology, which helps him handle historical research and tough fieldwork.

He studied at Tufts University, focusing on archaeology and drama. This blend of skills allows him to connect complex research to a wide audience.

Josh has led expeditions in over 100 countries. He often investigates historical mysteries, ancient cultures, and rare artifacts.

In Journey to the Ice Age, he takes an active role in searching for mammoth bones at the Batagay crater, a site known for exposing Ice Age remains.

Team Roles and Expertise

The expedition team brings together specialists with different skills for survival and science.

Field guides navigate the Siberian wilderness and ensure safe travel upriver to dig sites. They also handle logistics like camp setup and supplies.

Paleontologists examine each bone fragment on site to check preservation before transport. This helps avoid carrying poor samples over long distances.

Local tusk hunters share knowledge of the terrain and where permafrost erosion reveals remains. Their experience helps the team find bones faster.

Lab technicians treat and test the specimens to determine DNA viability. This step is crucial to see if the mammoth’s genetic material can be studied.

Exploring the Siberian Wilderness

Travel in Siberia means moving through vast, frozen landscapes where people are rare. Expeditions require careful planning, as weather, terrain, and isolation can slow progress and limit resources.

Journey into Remote Regions

Researchers travel hundreds of kilometers through the Siberian wilderness to reach the Batagay crater. The route includes long river stretches or rugged tracks that only open in certain seasons.

Small villages appear along the way, but supplies are scarce. Expeditions bring most necessities, such as fuel, food, and survival gear.

The crater sits in a sparsely populated part of Yakutia. Travelers may go days without seeing anyone else.

This isolation makes the journey both challenging and memorable. Seasonal changes add more obstacles.

In summer, melting permafrost turns paths into deep mud. In winter, temperatures drop far below freezing, so travelers need specialized clothing and equipment.

Encounters with Tusk Hunters

Travelers sometimes meet tusk hunters at riverbanks and permafrost sites. These hunters dig for mammoth ivory and work in remote camps for weeks.

They use high-pressure water hoses to uncover bones and tusks in the frozen ground. While they seek ivory, scientists may study other remains like skulls or leg bones.

Researchers and hunters sometimes cooperate. Hunters might share information about recent finds or guide visitors to good excavation spots.

Ivory hunting is not always regulated. Illegal digging in some areas can damage archaeological sites.

Expeditions must navigate these realities while focusing on research.

Logistical Challenges

Teams use several transport modes to reach Siberia’s remote sites. They often fly to a regional hub, travel by boat upriver, and then use off-road vehicles or snowmobiles.

Moving heavy equipment is difficult. DNA sampling tools, safety gear, and camping supplies need careful handling to prevent damage.

Communication is limited, and teams often depend on satellite phones. Weather delays are frequent.

Snowstorms, river ice, or floods can stop travel for days. Expeditions plan extra time for these unpredictable conditions.

For more on the expedition’s route and encounters, see Journey to the Ice Age.

The Search for Mammoth DNA

Researchers visit remote Siberian sites to collect bone samples from permafrost areas. These frozen conditions can protect DNA for thousands of years.

This preservation gives scientists a rare chance to study the woolly mammoth’s genetics.

Importance of Mammoth DNA

Mammoth DNA helps scientists understand how the animal adapted to cold climates. By comparing mammoth genes with those of modern elephants, researchers identify traits like thick fur, fat layers, and cold-resistant blood.

This genetic data sheds light on the species’ decline. Studies indicate that mammoth populations shrank gradually before extinction, likely due to climate change and human hunting.

Some scientists study whether recovered DNA could help restore mammoth traits through advanced genetic techniques. The data is already valuable for conservation biology and for understanding Ice Age ecosystems.

Finding Preserved Specimens

The best mammoth DNA comes from remains locked in permafrost. Places like the Batagay crater in Siberia, a huge thaw slump, have exposed ancient layers filled with bones and tusks.

Expeditions travel far upriver to dig sites where tusk hunters extract ivory from frozen soil. Alongside tusks, they sometimes find leg bones, teeth, and skull fragments with genetic material.

In Expedition Unknown: Journey to the Ice Age, Josh Gates collected bone samples from Batagay crater and other Siberian sites. He transported them to a lab for testing.

These finds can yield DNA that stays intact for thousands of years.

Challenges in DNA Retrieval

Extracting usable mammoth DNA is tough. Heat, moisture, or bacteria can break down genetic material, leaving only fragments.

Even permafrost cannot always prevent damage from repeated freeze-thaw cycles. In the lab, scientists clean and treat bone samples carefully to avoid contamination.

They usually grind a small section of bone into powder before chemical extraction. The recovered DNA is often incomplete.

Researchers use advanced sequencing to piece together the genome. Despite these obstacles, successful retrievals expand our knowledge of the woolly mammoth.

Analyzing the DNA Samples

Researchers handle recovered bone material with care to prevent contamination. They focus on extracting genetic material to reveal species identity, age, and past environmental conditions.

Laboratory Processing Steps

After transport from Batagay Crater, bone samples go into a clean lab. Technicians wear gloves, masks, and gowns to avoid introducing modern DNA.

The bones are cleaned to remove surface debris. Small fragments are ground into fine powder with sterile equipment.

This increases the surface area for DNA extraction. A chemical solution breaks down the bone’s mineral structure, releasing preserved genetic material.

The solution is filtered to separate DNA from other components. Technicians store the extracted DNA in sterile tubes at low temperatures.

Each sample receives a unique code to track its origin and condition.

Testing for Viable DNA

Not all ancient bones contain usable DNA. The team first measures DNA concentration to decide if further study is possible.

They use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify tiny DNA fragments. This process makes it easier to detect sequences linked to Ice Age animals, including mammoth DNA.

Quality checks involve running the amplified DNA through gel electrophoresis. Clear bands show intact sequences, while weak or smeared bands suggest heavy degradation.

Scientists sometimes compare results to genetic databases. This confirms if the sequences match extinct species or are too damaged for reliable identification.

Expert Evaluation

Geneticists review the DNA results for accuracy. They look for patterns to distinguish closely related species, such as mammoths and modern elephants.

Specialists check for contamination during excavation or lab work. If they suspect contamination, they repeat extraction and testing.

The team combines DNA findings with evidence from bone shape and geological context. This cross-checking improves confidence in identifying each specimen.

By comparing the sequences to reference genomes, experts estimate how long the DNA has been preserved. This gives insight into preservation conditions in the Batagay Crater.

Revealing the DNA Results

Laboratory analysis reveals clear data on the genetic material from permafrost bones. Tests confirm species identity and measure DNA condition, showing how much information can be recovered.

Key Findings

The team extracts DNA from bone samples at the Batagay crater. Results show several fragments belong to the woolly mammoth.

Much of the genetic material is degraded, as expected for ancient remains. Some sequences are intact enough to compare with existing mammoth genomes.

DNA quality varies between samples. Bones from deeper, colder layers tend to preserve more usable sequences.

This pattern confirms the importance of permafrost in slowing genetic decay.

Key data included:

Potential for De-Extinction

Moderately preserved mammoth DNA allows genetic research on trait recovery. Although sequences are incomplete, scientists can compare them to modern elephant genomes to find shared and unique genes.

Researchers use intact regions to reconstruct parts of the mammoth genome. This does not create a living mammoth, but it supports hybridization or gene-editing projects.

Such projects need high-quality DNA, advanced cloning, and ethical review. The Batagay findings add to the global collection of mammoth DNA, strengthening the dataset for future studies.

Scientific Implications

The DNA results help researchers study Ice Age ecosystems. By identifying mammoth genetic traits, scientists learn how the animal adapted to extreme cold.

Traits such as thick fur, fat storage, and cold-tolerant blood proteins appear in the genome. Comparing these with modern elephants reveals how species evolve in response to climate shifts.

The Batagay samples also improve understanding of permafrost preservation. Studying DNA survival in frozen ground informs archaeology and climate science, especially as warming threatens ancient genetic records.

Impact of Permafrost and Climate Change

In Siberia’s Batagay Crater, rising temperatures reshape the frozen ground and reveal long-buried remains. Changes in permafrost stability also affect greenhouse gas release, influencing local ecosystems and global climate.

Melting Permafrost and Fossil Exposure

The Batagay Crater, called a “megaslump,” expands as surrounding permafrost thaws. Rising air temperatures warm the ground, causing ice-rich soil to collapse.

As the ground erodes, it exposes frozen layers from tens of thousands of years ago. These layers often contain preserved animal bones, plant material, and ancient soil.

Researchers recover fossils from mammoths, horses, and other Ice Age species. These finds help scientists study past ecosystems and climate.

Observations show that in many Arctic regions, the active layer above permafrost deepens each year. In Batagay, this speeds up erosion and increases fossil exposure.

The table below shows how thawing affects fossil finds:

Methane Emissions and Environmental Risks

When permafrost thaws, it releases greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide. These gases come from decomposing organic matter locked in frozen soil.

In Batagay, thawed ground can expose large amounts of stored carbon. Studies show that permafrost carbon feedback could speed up climate change, though the timing and scale are uncertain.

Methane traps much more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over short timescales. Even small releases can noticeably warm the planet.

Thawing also changes the landscape, making some places wetter and others drier. This affects vegetation, wildlife, and wildfire risk.

Scientists monitor these emissions to understand their role in the climate system. In Batagay Crater, such monitoring links local changes to broader environmental trends.

Legacy of the Ice Age Discoveries

These Ice Age finds give scientists direct access to well-preserved remains, including large mammals like the woolly mammoth. The work also provides new methods for studying ancient DNA and inspires expeditions to remote, frozen regions once thought too difficult to explore.

Advancements in Paleogenetics

Researchers collected bone samples from sites such as the Batagay Crater and extracted ancient DNA. The extreme cold preserved the bones, which let scientists recover genetic material thousands of years old.

Scientists studied the genetic diversity of Ice Age species. For example, they sequenced DNA from a woolly mammoth’s remains and discovered that populations declined before extinction.

Researchers compared DNA from different sites. They tracked migration patterns and confirmed that some species moved in response to climate shifts, not just human hunting.

Key developments included:

• Improved extraction techniques for degraded DNA
• Cross-referencing genetic data with radiocarbon dating
• Building genomic libraries for extinct species

Influence on Future Expeditions

The team at Batagay Crater, featured in Expedition Unknown, showed that remote permafrost sites can yield significant finds.

This success inspired more teams to target similar locations in Siberia, Alaska, and northern Canada.

Expeditions started using lightweight drilling equipment and portable DNA labs.

Researchers could process samples on-site, which reduced the risk of contamination during transport.

Field teams began using satellite mapping to locate potential excavation zones before travel.

This approach saved time and reduced the environmental impact of digging in sensitive areas.