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 A Paleolithic hut divided in three sections and made of animal skins was found at Pushkari, Ukraine. The inside was dug out and the structure was built-up from mammoth bones. |
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No other animal remains were found here -- these were specialised mammoth hunters. Many of the bones found here had evidence of red paint, a common find at Paleolithic sites. |
| Circular base of mammoth bones found at Mezin, near Tchernogov, that provided a supporting structure for a Paleolithic hut of a typical mammoth hunting society. The tent was made of mammoth hides and was probably carpeted with mammoth hides, although fur hides, like fox, wolf, and bearskins, were often used for bedding. |
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Mousterian hut found at Moldova, Ukraine, made of mammoth bones and mammoth hides. The mammoth jaws used at the base were interlocked -- a clever technique found at most of the mammoth hunter sites. The mammoth hunting culture appears to have thrived for tens of thousands of years. |
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Circular base of mammoth bones found at Mezin with some support bones still standing. The mammoth hunters often built entire huts out of mammoth bones and covered them with mammoth hides stitiched together and anchored at the corners. They also made tools and objects from the tusks. Remains suggest that some of them ate nothing but mammoth meat. They must have been delicious, since they ate every last one. |
| Here is a mammoth hunter hut from Siberia reconstructed at a stone age site in Perigord, France. Notice how the original jawbones interlock to form sturdy walls. This structure would then be covered with mammoth hides and carpeted with fur. |  |
| Magdalenian tent from the Upper Paleolithic found at Plateau Parain in France. Dated to about 15,000 to 10,000 BCE, this animal hide tent was suspended over a wooden framework and held down by stones. It included a central hearth. Stone tools were fond in the area around this site. |
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Magdalenian double tent from Poggenwisch. This structure was made by connecting two tents, each with its own hearth. The structure was anchored with stones. |
| A Magdalenian tent from Pincevis, France. This animal skin over wood frame structure included two entrances and two hearths. |
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Reconstructed round hut from Moravia, Czechoslovakia. This structure was part of a large campsite which was rich in stone tools and bones. |
| Cross-section of a hut found at Dolne Vestonice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Post-holes were used to support the wooden roof posts. This structure included a fireplace. |
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Mousterian hut from Moldova, in the Ukraine. This animal hide covered framework was partially supported and braced with woolly mammoth bones. The use of mammoth bones, jaws, and skulls to build structures was common among the mammoth-hunting cultures of the Upper paleolithic. |
| Two long huts found at the Kostienki site near Alexandrova, in the Ukraine. One hut measured 33.5 meters by 5.5 meters and had ten small hearths in a row inside. The structure was designed to channel melting snow around and away from the huts. |
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| Upper paleolithic Huts from Mezin, Ukraine. These huts date to about 10,000 BCE. |
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Circular dwelling made with a stone wall base, from Malta, Siberia. |
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Gradually, they learned to improve their caves with inlaid stone floors, walls at the entrances and fireplaces. Ultimately they began creating entirely new habitats in locations that had no natural shelter. The construction of such habitats may have been influenced by the cold weather of the ice ages cycles shown in the white areas of the diagram below.
