OLDEST CIRCULAR STRUCTURE DISCOVERED – AND IT’S MADE OF MAMMOTH BONES

The oldest construction, created by prehistoric people and thus the earliest instances of architecture, may be discovered on the Dniepr river valley in Ukraine (also in Moravia, Czech Republic and Südpoland).

Some of the more remarkable of these mammoth homes were unearthed in Mezhyrich, a hamlet in the central Ukraine where in 1965, during the expansion of his cellar, a farmer dug the lower jawbone of a mammoth.

Additional excavations showed the presence of 4 ancient houses with 149 mammoth bones in total.

These refugees date from 23 000 BCE to 12 000 BCE and they are said to be one of the oldest homes, typically attributed to Cro-Magnons, known to be erected by ancient people.

“Their diameters range from 6 to 10 m (20 and 33 feet) and comprise several hundred bones and tusks.

A stove lays generally close to the centre of the previous residence, while steel tools and other detritus are dispersed within and outside the building. Near the homes were unearthed large holes filled with stone tools, bone pieces and ash.

“These constructions need to be assembled with considerable effort. Big mammoth bones weigh hundreds of pounds even in a dry state. Bones and tusks have been regenerated from hunting episodes in which whole herds of adult mammals and young mammals have been slain.

More likely, they were collected from natural accumulations of bones maybe at the mouths of rivers and rivers close to the locations.

The major purpose of the mammoth bone homes that supposedly were protected from harsh cold and high winds by animal hides.

Some archaeologists have claimed that they also had a religious or social significance, impressed with the scale and look of the buildings.

The earliest examples of ‘monumental building’ were regarded as evidence of increasing social complexity and differenzing status during the latter period of the Ice Age.” 100 Grand Archeological Discoveries [1995] 54-55) (Paul G. Bahn (ed)

On the site were also unearthed other intriguing artefacts including a map carved on a bone depicting perhaps the area around the town.

The remnants of a “drum” were also found, along with amber jewellery and fossil shells, constructed of a mammoth skull decorated with a patter of red and earthy dots.