Hundreds of mammoth bones were found at the Kostenki 11 site in Russia. Image: A. J. E. Pryor et al., 2020/Antiquity
An unusually large structure from the last ice age built from the bones of dozens of woolly mammoths has been uncovered in Russia. Dating back some 25,000 years, it’s the oldest known structure of its kind—but its purpose isn’t entirely clear.
Circular structures made from mammoth bones are surprisingly common in the archaeological record, dating to around 22,000 years ago and appearing across much of ice age Eastern Europe. Scientists working at the Kostenki 11 site, located next to the Don River near the Russian city of Voronezh, have found the largest one yet: a 12.5-meter-wide structure (41-foot) made from hundreds of woolly mammoth bones. The dwelling was radiocarbon dated to 25,000 years old, making it the oldest known mammoth bone structure in the world. Details of this remarkable discovery were published today in Antiquity.
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These structures are typically surrounded by a series of large pits, the purpose of which isn’t known. It’s possible the pits were a place to store food or bones used for burning. They could’ve also been a place to dump waste or quarries that formed during construction. As to the overall purpose of the mammoth-bone structures themselves, that’s also unclear.
The newly discovered mammoth bone structure at the Kostenki 11 site in Russia. Image: A. J. E. Pryor et al., 2020/Antiquity
“Other than being explained as ‘dwellings,’ sites of this type have previously been interpreted as having potential ritual significance,” Alexander Pryor, the first author of the new study and a researcher from the University of Exeter, said in an email to Gizmodo. “However, exactly what this ritual significance might have been is difficult to say from archaeology alone.”
This is not the first time that archaeologists have found a mammoth bone structure at Kostenki 11. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet scientists found a pair of smaller structures, also made from mammoth bones.
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In 2013, archaeologists were conducting surveys in the area when they stumbled upon the third structure at Kostenki 11, which is located on the Russian Plain and approximately 520 kilometers (323 miles) due south of Moscow. Excavations lasted for three years and included a technique known as floatation, in which water and sieves are used to separate archaeological material from the soil. A key advantage of this approach is that it allows for the discovery of exceptionally small remnants and artifacts.
A team member working through a pile of mammoth bones. Image: A. J. E. Pryor et al., 2020/Antiquity
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That Pleistocene humans living in Eastern Europe at the time would bother to build such structures is definitely a surprise. Hunter-gatherers of the Upper Paleolithic lived mobile, nomadic lifestyles, and making permanent structures is not something typically associated with their mode of existence.
“Sourcing so many mammoth bones, from at least 60 different mammoths, is a significant challenge,” said Pryor. “These would have been gathered either from recent kills or by scavenging bones from long-dead carcasses found around the landscape. Either way, mammoth bones are really heavy, particularly when fresh, and simply carrying the bones around would have taken an enormous amount of work.”
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No signs of butchery were found on the bones, but Pryor said that’s not altogether surprising. These animals were so big that it was relatively easy to remove meat and fats without leaving obvious traces on the bones, he said. A similar thing has been documented in modern times, in which humans butchered elephants using metal knives and without marking the bones, he added.
An overhead view of the site. Image: A. J. E. Pryor et al., 2020/Antiquity
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Using the floatation technique, the researchers uncovered evidence of charcoal, burnt bone, bits of stone tools, and soft plant tissue associated with edible roots or tubers. Excitingly, the discovery hints at the foods eaten by Upper Paleolithic humans in Central Europe. What’s more, the site yielded the first meaningful collection of charred plant remains from a site of this kind, which means trees were still around in the area during the frigid time period, according to the new research.
The humans who built these structures burned their wood inside, so the dwelling likely served as a refuge from the harsh ice age winters and possibly year-round, according to the authors. It might have also been a place to store and stockpile food.
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“If at least some of these mammoths were hunted, this is going to generate a lot of food from each kill,” said Pryor. “Therefore, preserving and storing that food could be a really significant part of what humans were doing there,” but more research will be required to suss this out, he said. And indeed, the next stage of the project will focus on the potential role of the structure as a place to store and stockpile food.
Excavations at the Kostenki 11 site, which took three years.Image: A. J. E. Pryor et al., 2020/Antiquity
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The structure might have also carried ritualistic significance; perhaps it was some kind of shrine or monument in honor of woolly mammoths. That mammoths held an important spiritual role in the lives of these humans is not a stretch of the imagination.
Importantly, Pryor and his colleagues could not find evidence consistent with the idea that the dwellings were a place for long-term, day-to-day habitation.
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“It is difficult to imagine how an area this large could have been roofed,” Pryor told Gizmodo. “Some of the bones that make up the ring were found in articulation—for example groups of vertebrae—indicating that at least some of the bones still had cartilage and fat attached when they were added to the pile. This would have been smelly, and would have attracted scavengers including wolves and foxes, which is not great if this was a dwelling.”
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There weren’t many stone chips at the site linked to the manufacture of stone tools, compared to similar sites. “This suggests the intensity of activity at the site was lower than might be expected from a dwelling and was a real surprise given the time and effort invested by the people that built the site,” Pryor said.
This discovery shows that hunter-gatherers were more crafty and strategic than is typically assumed. Instead of mindlessly following animal herds and picking nuts and berries along the way, these humans were actively planning for the future and building structures accordingly. At least, if this particular interpretation is correct. Hopefully the team will succeed during the next stage of the project and shed new light on this remarkable structure.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
