Mammoth-Bone Structures Studied

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—According to a Phys.org report, a new study conducted by Alba Rey-Iglesia of the University of Denmark and her colleagues has analyzed a sample of the mammoth bones that were used to build circular structures at Kostenki 11-la, a 25,000-year-old site in western Russia. In all, the thousands of bones are thought to represent more than 60 woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius). Team member Eline D. Lorenzen of the University of Copenhagen said that such structures date to the last Ice Age, and are thought to have been used for shelter and perhaps for ceremonial purposes. Pits found around the shelters may have been used to store food or fuel, or even to dispose of rubbish. The study determined that most of the bones in the sample came from female mammoths. The bones of juvenile mammoths were also identified. The researchers concluded that Ice Age hunters may have targeted mammoth herds, or may have scavenged herd bone beds, rather than seeking out and trapping male individuals, who are thought to have lived alone or in temporary bachelor groups. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Quaternary Environments and Humans. For more on the mammoth structures at Kostenki, go to "Ice Age Ice Box."