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Old August 19th, 2019 #2
Alex Him
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Now I try to translate those fragments of the article that are directly related to the case about which Solzhenitsyn wrote.

"В 1942 г. при производстве дорожных работ в долине р. Лыглыхтаха (бассейн Колымы) взрывом была вскрыта подземная линза прозрачного льда с заключёнными в ней замёрзшими телами каких-то больших рыб. Повидимому, случайно была вскрыта древняя протока реки с замёрзшими в ней представителями древней ихтиофауны. Производитель работ сообщает, что рыбы были изумительной свежести, и куски мяса, выброшенные взрывом, были съедены присутствовавшими при взрыве."


In 1942, during the production of road works in the valley of the river Liglykhtakh (the Kolyma river basin), an underground lens of transparent ice with the frozen bodies of some large fish enclosed in it was opened by an explosion. Presumably, the ancient channel of the river with representatives of the ancient ichthyofauna frozen in it was accidentally opened. The construction manager of the work reports that the fish were amazingly fresh, and the pieces of meat thrown out by the explosion were eaten by those present during the explosion.



Further in the article follows a text that is no longer relevant to this case.

"Не менее интересны многочисленные находки замороженных тритонов в поверхностных слоях почвы. Мне приходилось наблюдать на Индигирке, как рабочие при корчевании пней находили подо мхом оцепеневших, возможно даже замёрзших, тритонов, которые при оттаивании оживали.

Часто находят замёрзших тритонов также на дне глубоких шурфов. После отогревания тритоны оживают. Из этих фактов делают поспешный вывод, что тритоны способны оживать после тысячелетнего пребывания в мёрзлой почве. Однако, к таким фактам надо подходить с большой осторожностью, так как тритонов на больших глубинах ещё никто не находил, а на дно шурфов они могут попадать из верхних слоёв почвы.

Само собой разумеется, что изучение сезонного замерзания тритонов не лишено научного интереса и являлось бы продолжением и углублением известных опытов Пиктэ и П. Н. Бахметьева, но оживление тритонов после тысячелетнего пребывания в мерзлоте, повидимому, относится к области фантастики."


No less interesting are the numerous finds of frozen newts in the surface layers of the soil. I had to observe on the Indigirka River how workers, while rooting out stumps, found under their moss numb, possibly even frozen, newts, which, when thawed, came to life.

Frozen newts are also often found at the bottom of deep pits. After warming, the newts come to life. From these facts, a hasty conclusion is made that newts are able to come to life after a thousand-year stay in frozen soil. However, such facts must be approached with great caution, since no one has yet found newts at great depths, and they can get to the bottom of pits from the upper layers of the soil.

It goes without saying that the study of seasonal freezing of newts is not without scientific interest and would be a continuation and deepening of the well-known experiments of Pictet and P. N. Bakhmetiev, but the revitalization of newts after a thousand-year stay in permafrost, apparently, belongs to the realm of fantasy.



What data can we extract directly from the article?

Newts do not relate to the case of interest at all. They were not ancient and no one ate them.

The case we are considering is not a scientific fact since the source and witness of it is not the scientist but the construction manager.

In other words, there was no scientist who could determine the age of this ice. And there was no scientist who could determine whether these fish are modern fish or whether they belong to ancient species of fish.

So our source is the anonymous unqualified witness.

Could this construction manager fooled the scientist and made up this story?

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

Could the scientist have invented this story?

This possibility also cannot be excluded because the only clarifying circumstance here is the Liglykhtakh River which is tens of kilometers long.

My google maps could not find it. My Russian Yandex maps were able to find the river Liglykhtakh - https://yandex.ru/maps/?ll=151.23343...%B0%D1%85&z=11

Try to find nearby cities, villages and roads.

So this story cannot be qualified as a fact; it is just the report that cannot be verified.
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