Possible Mammoth Butchery Site Found in Arctic Circle

News October 4, 2021

(Courtesy of Alexander Kandyba)
SHARE:
Russia Mammoth Skeleton
(Courtesy of Alexander Kandyba)

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA—Live Science reports that the butchered remains of a mammoth have been unearthed on Kotelny Island, which is located off the northern coast of East Siberia by a team of researchers led by Alexander Kandyba of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When the animal was killed some 26,000 years ago, sea levels were lower and what is now Kotelny Island was part of the mainland, Kandyba explained. The team members found cut marks and notches made by stone or bone tools on almost every one of the two-thirds of the mammoth skeleton they recovered. They did not recover any of the butchering tools, but they did find a small spatula and another unidentified item carved from the mammoth’s tusks, in addition to ivory shavings and chips. “The discovery of this site makes it possible to move the northern border of the existence of ancient man and the development of the territory by him in the Pleistocene by almost 600 kilometers [370 miles] to the north,” Kandyba said. To read about a mammoth pelvis unearthed in Michigan, go to “Leftover Mammoth.”

  • Features September/October 2021

    Secret Rites of Samothrace

    Reimagining the experience of initiation into an ancient Greek mystery cult

    Read Article
    (© American Excavations Samothrace)
  • Features September/October 2021

    Searching for the Fisher Kings

    In the waters of southern Florida, the creative Calusa people forged a mighty empire

    Read Article
    (Merald Clark)
  • Letter From Scotland September/October 2021

    Land of the Picts

    New excavations reveal the truth behind the legend of these fearsome northern warriors

    Read Article
    (Courtesy The Northern Picts Project)
  • Artifacts September/October 2021

    Late Medieval Ring

    Read Article
    (© Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales)