The mammoths were not all related to each other, according to the new analysis. Rey-Iglesia et al., Quaternary Environments and Humans, 2025Roughly 25,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers completed an ambitious construction project: They built a circular, 40-foot-wide structure using the bones and tusks of more than 60 woolly mammoths.The mammoth-bone structure, located at a site in Russia some 300 miles south of Moscow called Kostenki 11, has long perplexed archaeologists. Why were our Ice Age ancestors building things out of mammoth bones? What did they use the structure for? And where did they find so many skeletons?Researchers cant fully answer these questions yet. But they are starting to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the massive mammoth-bone structure at Kostenki 11.Now, scientists say most of the mammoths used to build the site were female, which suggests the Ice Age hunter-gatherers were hunting or scavenging from herds, rather than trapping lone males. In addition, some of the bones were much older than others, which indicates our Paleolithic ancestors might have been sourcing both newly dead and long-dead animals.Researchers report these and other findings in a new paper published in the journal Quaternary Environments and Humans.Kostenki 11 is not alonearchaeologists have discovered roughly 70 mammoth-bone structures throughout Eastern Europe. In 1951, they found Kostenki 11, and excavations during the next few decades revealed two mammoth-bone complexes, each spanning roughly 30 feet in diameter. Ever since, teams have been carefully excavating and studying the area, which is now a museum and archaeological reserve.In 2014, archaeologists unearthed the biggest find at the site yet: the 40-foot-diameter circular structure at Kostenki 11, which was made up of approximately 2,982 bones that belonged to at least 64 individual mammoths. Researchers also discovered pieces of charred wood, as well as burned mammoth bones and the remains of plants similar to potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Nearby, they found three large pits.The mysterious landmark was larger and older than other mammoth-bone structures found in Eastern Europe, which raised questions about how and why it was used. It could have been a shelter or dwelling, though it was probably too big for a practical roof. Another possibility is that hunter-gatherers used the site to butcher and process mammoth meat, which they then stored in nearby permafrost. Alternatively, the site might have had ceremonial or ritualistic significance.The structures primary purpose is still unclear. But researchers were also curious about the bones, so for the new study, they gathered 39 samples to perform DNA and radiocarbon dating analyses.All of the skeletons belonged to woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), the extinct relatives of modern elephants. The bones sampled for the study represented 30 total individuals, including 17 females and 13 males. This predominance of females, coupled with juvenile mammoth bones found at the site, suggests the hunter-gatherers were targeting herds or collecting the skeletons from bone beds, rather than setting traps, according to the study.Thats because woolly mammoths are believed to have lived in multi-generational, female-led herds, with adult males wandering off on their own. If the hunter-gatherers had been trapping the mammoths, they likely wouldve caught more males, the researchers posit.The DNA analysis also revealed that the mammoths were not all related to each other and likely came from several different herds.Radiocarbon dating of the remains indicated that at least two bonesone from a male mammoth and one from a femalewere several hundred years older than the other bones found at the site. This supports the idea that the builders were scavenging bones from somewhere elselikely a place that contained both older and newer skeletons. Its also possible that humans used the site during two distinct phases of activity separated by hundreds of years.We dont have evidence to say whether the humans directly hunted the mammoths, and we infer they were likely found in natural bone beds and transported to the site, says study co-author Eline D. Lorenzen, a molecular ecologist at the University of Copenhagen, to Phys.orgs Sandee Oster. But perhaps mammoths may have died across many hundreds of years in the bone beds, and thus both old and new were used.Scientists still have many unanswered questions about the mammoth-bone structure. But the new findings add to the growing picture of how Ice Age hunter-gatherers behavedand survivedamid challenging weather conditions and frigid temperatures.As a whole, the site is giving us a real insight into how our human ancestors adapted to climate change, to the harshest parts of the last glacial cycle, and adapted to use the materials that they had around them, as study co-author Alexander Pryor, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, told Smithsonian magazines Brian Handwerk in 2020. Its really a story of survival in the face of adversity.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Bones, DNA, Extinction, Fossils, Human Evolution, Mammals, New Research, Russia