The Shandrin mammoth was discovered in 1974 at the feet of a steep slope in the eastern side of the Kondakov Plateau by geologist B. S. Rusanov of the Yakutsk Institute of Geology.

[1] The Kondakov Plateau is located in eastern Yakutia, rising above the right banks of the lower course of the Indigirka and gradually decreasing in elevation to the east.

The highest point is 498 metres (1,634 ft) high Punga Khaya located in the western part.

[4] The Kondakov Plateau area is part of the migration corridor of the Sundrun reindeer population, which includes the adjoining Suor Uyata to the southeast, and the forest tundra of the Rossokha River basin to the east.

Andesites and basalts are present in some exposed crust parts of the plateau, where the local type of agate with a parallel-layered pattern can also be found.