Some of the most notable of these mammoth bone huts were discovered in Mezhyrich, a village in central Ukraine, where a farmer discovered a mammoth’s lower jawbone while expanding his cellar in 1965. Additional excavations revealed the presence of four prehistoric huts made up of 149 mammoth bones. These huts are possibly the earliest examples of domed architecture, dating back up to 25,000 years.
These mammoth bone huts could be up to 25,000 years old
These shelters date between 23,000 BCE and 12,000 BCE, and are thought to be some of the oldest dwellings known to have been constructed by pre-historic man, usually attributed to Cro-Magnons
“They are made up of hundreds of bones and tusks arranged in a rough circle 6 to 10 m (20 to 33 ft) in diameter.” A hearth is usually located near the center of the former dwelling, and stone tools and other debris are strewn about the inside and outside of the structure. Near the houses, large pits containing stone tools, bone fragments, and ash have been discovered.
These structures had to have taken a lot of work to put together. Large mammoth bones can weigh hundreds of pounds even when dry. The bones and tusks may have been recovered from hunting episodes in which entire herds of adult mammoths and their young were slaughtered. A more likely explanation is that they were collected from natural bone accumulations near the sites, possibly at the mouths of streams and gullies. The primary purpose of the mammoth-bone dwellings, which were presumably covered with animal skins, was most likely to provide protection from extreme cold and high winds. Some archaeologists have argued that the structures have religious or social significance because of their size and appearance. They have been described as the earliest examples of’monumental architecture’ as evidence of increased social complexity and status differentiation during the Ice Age’s final phase.” 54-55) (Paul G. Bahn (ed) 100 Great Archaeological Discoveries [1995]
‘They are composed of several hundred bones and tusks arranged in a rough circle, between 6 and 10 m in diameter’
