This is one of the largest Ice Age structures made of mammoth bones
Ancient people took on a mammoth project, in more ways than one. Excavations at Russia’s Kostenki 11 site have uncovered one of the oldest and largest Ice Age structures made of mammoth bones. Hunter-gatherers assembled bones from at least 60 mammoths into an imposing ring around 25,000 years ago, say archaeologist Alexander Pryor of the University of Exeter in England and colleagues. Building this structure, which measures about 12.5 meters across, required a huge investment of time and energy, the scientists report in the April Antiquity. Bones may have come from hunted mammoths or from carcasses of animals that died of natural causes. Sieving of soil samples identified charred wood from fires set inside the ring, but it’s unclear how its makers used the structure, Pryor’s team says. Excavations at Russia’s Kostenki 11 site have uncovered the extensive remains of this ancient mammoth-bone structure.A. Pryor Circular mammoth bone structures, most dating to no more than 22,000 years ago, previously have been found across eastern Europe and...