Archaeologists have unearthed a 25,000-year-old monument made of mammoth bones in Russia. The researchers described their find in the online journal Antiquity, which is published by Cambridge University Press.
Over the years, archaeologists have found other structures made from mammoth bones in Russia. The newly found monument’s size is one of its more noteworthy features; it’s 41 feet across. The archaeologists are not sure who made it or why.
Some of the other mammoth-bone structures were apparently shelters. The researchers noted that this new find could have also been a shelter, but they are not certain if that was its primary function. The monument itself provides only a few clues.
The newly-discovered monument was found at a site called Kostenki 11 that is near the town Voronezh and sits next to the Don River. Archaeologists had first found mammoth-bone structures at the site in the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers found signs of the new monument in 2014.
The monument was circular and had no obvious way in. The archaeologists did find signs of burnt wood within the monument which suggests people did use it as a shelter in cold weather. The team’s lead author, Alexander Pryor, commented that mammoth bones were extremely heavy. The monument was thus important to its builders and may have had a ritual purpose as well as a practical one.
The archaeologists also found the remains of dozens of mammoths. They found 64 mammoth skulls and 51 mandibles. The monument’s builders had done a lot of hunting and hauling to acquire the materials needed for their monument.
The researchers found remains of food items, like parts of soft plant tissue similar to that seen in tubers or edible roots. The monument’s builders had apparently these plants along with a lot of mammoth meat. Pryor noted that such finds were important because they indicated how prehistoric humans had survived the harsh conditions of the last Ice Age.
