20,000-Year-Old Home Made From Mammoth Bones Discovered In Russia

The three little pigs may have built houses of out straw, wood, and brick, both those walking pork chops had nothing on what they just found in Russia, the remains of a 20,000-year-old home that appears to be made almost entirely out of the bones of wooly mammoths.

The archeology site known as Kotenski 11 is just around 300 miles south of Moscow, but you won’t find anything like Red Square. Instead, you’ll find a 9×9 meter circular featured created out of the bones of the extinct animals.

The house dates back around 20,000 years to a group of people who existed in Northern Europe during the last Ice Age between 75,000- 18,000 years ago. The stability of the bones made for an excellent reinforcement material in the construction of dwellings. Besides, it gave them a way to recycle the bones once they were done harvesting all the meat and fur.

In this one site, researchers found 51 lower jaws and 64 individual skulls that were used in the walls of the structure. They also found additional bones from reindeer, horse, bear, wolf, horses, red and arctic foxes. Further evidence shows that bones were not just used for building, but that they would actually burn them for fuel.

Other things found in the dwelling include the remains of charred wood and other soft, non-woody plants, the remains of foraging plants used for poisons, medicines, string, and fabric and more than 50 charred seeds which suggests the inhabitants had been foraging and cooking plants as well as hunting game.

Source: IFLScience