Mammoth-bone dwelling
Cabaña de huesos de mamut
- Date
- c. 17 ka · confidence high
- Place
- Mezhyrich, Cherkasy, Ukraine
- Credited to
- Homo sapiens (Epigravettian)
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Four circular dwellings built from hundreds of mammoth bones arranged in patterns, covered with hides. Monumental architecture built by hunters on a treeless steppe.
Mezyn, Gontsy and Kostenki show analogous structures; Kostenki 11 (c. 25 ka) is the largest and oldest.
What it led to
- Collective investment of labour in permanent housing: a stable village
- Aesthetic design in architecture (jawbone patterns)
- Systematic reuse of bone as building material and fuel
Built on
- Bone-and-hide tent structurec. 44 ka
- Brush hutc. 23 ka
- Bone-and-hide tent structure
- Brush hut