Since 1994, teacher and homeland expert Prokopiy Nogovitsyn (an expert in the fields of paleontology, archeology and ethnography) from the village of Oy, Khangalassky district, led a research expedition called “Elleyada”.
Initially, the event received support from Academician Nikita Solomonov, PhD in Biological Sciences. As part of the next phase of operations, expedition members discovered a species of mollusk new to science – the snail.
The Elleyada expedition traditionally conducted research in the middle reaches of the Lena River, where its members discovered trilobites and oncolites, ceramic remains and signs of ancient settlements, and studied the flora and fauna of the central part of Yakutia. The place where the new mollusk was discovered was on the banks of the Lena River, upstream of Ulakhan-An village.
As a result of collaboration with the famous malaria researcher EV Shikov, a researcher at Tver State University, published an article in the journal Ruthenica on January 2, 2026, dedicated to the discovery of a new species of snail – Vallonica yakutica.
During their work, members of the Elleyad expedition identified 12 of the 42 known habitats of ancient people in the middle reaches of the Lena River in Yakutia territory. Particularly noteworthy are the fragments of Pleistocene bighorn sheep and bison skulls, recognized as the largest in the world.
In the vicinity of the village of Tumul, the expedition found knife handles for processing leather, made from mammoth ivory. An insert knife was discovered in the Kullata area, its peculiarity is the presence of silicon blade plates inserted into a slot on the horn. What is interesting is that this artifact was extracted from the ground by a Eurasian woman. Experts emphasize the special scientific value of those findings.
