
People built bone circles at the edge of ice sheets - diodorus
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/enigmatic-circles-of-mammoth-bones-in-eastern-europe-date-to-ice-age/
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lovemenot
Assuming mammoths behaved like modern elephants [1], it could have been to
lure and entrap living mammoth wishing to commemorate their dead. Therein,
slaughter. The emotional impact of being surrounded by ancestors might have
made it easier to kill them.

You'd just need to leave or find a carcass out in the open. Over the seasons,
you'd gradually move it closer to the killing ground.

[1] [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/08/elephants-
mo...](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/08/elephants-mourning-
video-animal-grief/)

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Mikeb85
Probably a hunting camp. Would explain the fact that the bone circles were
often occupied but not a permanent shelter, and the large amount of mammoth
bones.

Their permanent settlement would have likely been in a more sheltered spot,
while the camp would serve as base for expeditions to hunt mammoths, then
they'd be broken down and taken back to their permanent settlement.

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gerdesj
Perhaps. This bloke,
[https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/apryor/sup...](https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/apryor/supervision/)
says:

“In a future article, we will argue that their function as food-storage
facilities should be given further consideration,”

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harryf
Refrigeration ?

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pugworthy
Interesting idea. Lots of meat from a kill, need to store it, but also protect
it from preditors

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ianai
This seems like the obvious case. They could probably excavate large areas of
ice for mass refrigeration with ease.

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jccooper
I like to think it's a mammoth-bone yurt. Kind of silly, but it actually fits
all the data (that I know about.)

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alexfromapex
Probably helped them predict severity of winter since they didn’t have the
weather channel. Or maybe free water when it melts?

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mirimir
Could they have provided protection from other predators?

Edit: That was a straight question!

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GuardianCaveman
I agree why else build a circular wall but to keep animals and enemies out
unless they had animal skins draped and that was the walls to support the
roof?

