Archaeologists from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv have precisely dated an extraordinary Ice Age site in Ukraine, revealing that around 18,000 years ago, humans built resilient shelters from the bones and tusks of woolly mammoths. The largest dwelling was constructed between 18,323 and 17,839 years ago, serving as a practical haven in the harsh post-glacial landscape for potentially up to 429 years.
Imagine the scene: the wind howls across a frigid, treeless plain just north of the Black Sea. The coldest snap of the last ice age has recently eased, but survival is still a daily battle against the elements. Here, ingenious hunter-gatherers did more than just survive—they built. Using the most abundant material in their frozen world, the colossal remains of mammoths, they constructed durable shelters. A new study pinpoints when this happened, bringing us closer to understanding how these early communities turned megafauna into architecture.
The site near the village of Mezhyrich, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Kyiv, was originally excavated between 1966 and 1974. Archaeologists then were struck by how the mammoth bones were arranged—not as a random pile of leftovers from a feast, but with clear intention, suggesting the foundations of ancient houses. But for decades, the timeline was fuzzy, with estimates ranging from 19,000 to 12,000 years ago. To solve this, a team led by Professor Pavlo Shydlovskyi of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv returned to the evidence, employing modern dating techniques on the remains of small animals found at the site.
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Their findings, published on November 21 in the journal Open Research Europe, provide a remarkably precise snapshot. The largest structure was built just after the Last Glacial Maximum, the ice age’s peak cold period that ended 19,000 years ago. As reported by Live Science, the researchers concluded these were not permanent towns, but “practical solutions for survival.” The fact a shelter might have been used, maintained, or rebuilt over centuries, however, speaks to its effectiveness and the deep knowledge its builders possessed of their environment.
So, how do you build a house from a mammoth? Professor Pavlo Shydlovskyi described the likely construction in an email to Live Science. It began with a foundation: “mammoth skulls and large long bones, set vertically into the ground,” forming a sturdy plinth to anchor the dwelling. A framework of wood—a precious resource—was probably added, then covered with animal hides or birch bark for insulation. Finally, the architects used the mammoth’s most iconic parts for roofing: “tusks and large flat bones were placed on the upper part of the structure functioning as weights and wind protection.”
This was more than a crude windbreak; it was engineered architecture. The choice of heavy tusks and flat bones for the roof was a critical innovation, weighting down the hides against the fierce winds. These structures provided crucial refuge, enabling communities to endure and even thrive in an extreme climate. The Mezhyrich site stands as a powerful testament to human resilience and ingenuity, showing that even in the depths of an ice age, our ancestors were not just passive survivors but active builders, shaping their world from the bones of giants.
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