[blam]

"Blam my man, you sure that whoever's translating this stuff from Russian is getting his time frames right? I mean, I might could picture Siberia being some sort of a trade crossroads in pleistocine times but not 1000 years ago."

I can't argue with the translation. I think there has been continuous occupation in Siberia for at least 200,000 years.

Once while reading about the Cocaine Mummies Of Egypt, I read that one guy speculated about a trade route all the way from South America, across Siberia and into the Middle East. That was his explanation of how the Egyptians had access to cocaine and nicotine thousands of years ago.

[greenwolf]

I can't argue with the translation. I think there has been continuous occupation in Siberia for at least 200,000 years.

Continuous occupation true, but by relatively small Turko/Mongol tribes eking out an existence hunting and fishing. That's not most people's definition of any sort of a quasi-major trade nexus or caravan hub. Within historical times the caravan routes (silk road etc.)ran through southern Asia for obvious reasons.

[RussianConservative]

Or mabye Bay of Jars?