In 1908 a huge blast occurred over the Siberian taiga in a land inhabited primarily by indigenous Evenki. When Soviet scientists first investigated the event two decades later, they assumed it had been caused by a meteorite. Yet traces were never found. This inconclusiveness eventually led to wide-ranging speculations, including the idea that the explosion was caused by an accident of a nuclear-powered alien spaceship. Though initially limited to the realm of science fiction, this nuclear hypothesis inspired generations of amateur researchers to undertake expeditions to the Tunguska site, where, among other things, they searched for evidence of an atomic explosion.
This paper will look at these efforts to determine possible radioactive contamination in the Tunguska site. Working during the peak days of fallout from nuclear testing, these researchers were intrigued when their radiometers buzzed in certain spots. They eventually turned to trying to acquire all sorts of indirect evidence that the blast was nuclear, including from the health records and testimony of the Evenki who had been in the region. This research reflected a view of radioactivity as something that migrated through interstellar space into the bodies and memories of the indigenous peoples who had been most affected by the explosion. The ethnographic and medical orientation of these researchers can be seen as a method of bolstering their expertise within a scientific community that was sometimes dismissive of their amateur status. In this way radioactive indigeneity served in debates about what counted as legitimate Soviet science.
