Mammoths and bipeds

Winter. Long gone are the times of glaciation in the highlands of North-East Yakutia. The flat, sometimes slightly hilly plain is covered with white snow. The dazzlingly bright rays of the sun play with multi-colored sparkles on this snowy white silence. In the weak wind, the yellow heads of rare cereals, protruding from under the snow, quietly sway. In the distance you can see the arched outline of a long lake - an oxbow lake. A herd of mammoths calmly grazes on its bend. Each of them resembles in size a huge cart or haystack, placed on four thick logs. But among them there are also very playful, active young animals of much smaller size. Not inferior in size to modern large bulls, the “kids” start amusing offensive-retreat games and run around their majestic relatives.

It's quiet and peaceful around. The giants of these expanses, deftly wielding their huge tusks, rake away the snow, and with their powerful jaws chew the withered grass and coarse shrubby vegetation extracted from under the snow.

But the silence on the snowy plain and the undisturbed peace of the mighty mammoths turned out to be deceptive. Patiently and quietly behind them Wise and treacherous two-legged creatures - people - closely watched. Hunters dressed in animal skins suddenly jumped out from behind the hills with deafening screams. The leader of the mammoths let out an alarming roar and led his herd away from the people - to the lake. The hunters' cunning trick worked: the animals ran towards their certain death. As soon as they began to cross the lake covered with ice and snow, terrible cracks appeared under their feet. The maddened animals instinctively gathered into a dense crowd. The half-meter ice could not withstand the weight of the animals accumulated in one place, and the entire herd of mammoths ended up in deep icy water. The mighty animals, in mortal horror, began to crush each other, floundering in the water, turning over multi-ton blocks of ice like light toys. The weak animals found themselves under water, while the strong ones furiously beat the edge of the ice with flexible trunks and strong tusks. But soon their strength ran out. An entire herd of mammoths perished and became the prey of savvy Stone Age hunters. The latter began to perform an unimaginably energetic ritual dance of good luck...

According to competent experts, the life of Stone Age tribes largely depended on the production of large animals. By hunting only small game they could not provide all the needs of their existence. People of the Stone Age, without having tools for hunting large animals, still knew the “Achilles heel” of such gregarious and heavy animals as mammoths. They were excellent at hunting mammoths and their companions (woolly rhinoceroses, bison, wild horses) by driving them through the ice.

Modern people are surprised by the huge accumulations of bones - cemeteries of mammoths of different ages. Scientists put forward different versions of the solution to this mystery. Very valuable finds often appear on the table of specialists - scraps of red, dark gray or black wool, bones with dried tendons. Occasionally, scientists get entire skeletons and remains of the corpses of mammoths, rhinoceroses, fossil bison and horses. Researchers study stone or bone arrowheads and spears of Stone Age hunters, argue about hunting methods and techniques, and are amazed at the ability of primitive people to survive in extreme glacial conditions.

Starting from the Stone Age, humanity passed through the Bronze and Iron Ages.

In human history, the Stone Age is approximately two million years old or a little more. Then people coexisted first with ancient elephants, then with mammoths and other giants who lived during the Quaternary glaciation.

According to research by P. Wood, L. Vachek et al. (1972), 400-500 thousand years ago in the European part of the world people hunted ancient elephants. On the territory of Yakutia (including the primitive people of Diring-Yuryakh), hunting tribes appeared about 35 thousand years ago. Before the complete disappearance of mammoths from the face of the earth, they at least hunted them for at least 250 centuries. During the Ice Age, these tribes spread to North America in search of prey.

Did people kill mammoths?

Scientists have long ago agreed by default that modern man is the main enemy of all life on Earth. As it turned out, this is hereditary for him. According to American archaeologist Todd Sorovil, it was people who made a decisive contribution to the disappearance of mammoths from our planet.

Until now, it was believed that ancient mammals became extinct as a result of sudden climate change that occurred between 50 and 100 thousand years ago. Then two thirds of the animals died. Meanwhile, according to Sorovil, natural disasters played only a minor role in this. The scientist made his shocking conclusions based on a study of 41 areas in which the bones of elephant ancestors were found. Having compared these places, he discovered an interesting pattern: mammoths died out much faster where there were sites of ancient people nearby. In those areas where people did not have time to settle, the natural death of mammoths occurred much later.

Despite the absence of the greenhouse effect and ozone holes in those immemorial times, people, it turns out, managed well without the costs of the national economy. Although there was no global fur market then, mammoth skins were in great demand - apparently, this was the main attire of our prehistoric ancestors. And mammoth meat was perhaps the main delicacy. Moreover, they had to get it all on their own - active hunting ultimately led to the complete destruction of the “hairy elephants.”

http://www.utro.ru/articles/2005/04/12/427979.shtml

American scientists have dealt a crushing defeat to scientific opponents studying the reasons for the disappearance of mammoths from the face of the Earth, pointing out the absurdity of the assumption that they fell victim to the gastronomic intemperance of our ancestors. In recent years, the sad fact of the discovery of an extremely small number of complete skeletons of these fossil animals has been explained by the fact that most of them fell under the primitive carving knife. Other hypotheses, such as an environmental disaster or a deadly epidemic, were rejected as untenable.

But the Americans rehabilitated their ancestors. At an international conference in Hot Springs, a researcher with the strikingly appropriate surname Firestone said that it was not animal disease or human gluttony that killed the mammoths. They ceased to exist as a result of the activity of a supernova, which brought down a hail of radioactive meteorites on the Earth.

Until now, speaking about the disappearance of mammoths, scientists agreed on one thing - they completely died out 11-13 thousand years ago; everything else was just speculation. Richard Firestone voiced his. About 41 thousand years ago, a supernova appeared at a distance of 250 light years from Earth. First, cosmic radiation reached our planet, followed by a stream of ice particles, which began to bombard the mammoth habitats.

The Americans even found traces of this radiation, for which they had to go to Iceland and delve into marine sediments. Having dug to the right layers, they discovered an unusually high concentration of C-14 carbon, which was explained by the influence of radiation from that same ill-fated supernova. And in the layers corresponding to the period of the untimely death of mammoths, radioactive pieces of ice were discovered.

It should be noted that Mr. Firestone was so kind that he did not completely destroy all other hypotheses about the causes of the death of mammoths. With full confidence, he stated that only the inhabitants of North America fell from cosmic influence. However, the geographical position of Iceland, namely: its equidistance from the North American continent and Eurasia, still leaves no reason to blame excessively voracious primitive people for the death of mammoths.

"Journey to the Stone Age"

Charity wall newspaper for schoolchildren, parents and teachers “Briefly and clearly about the most interesting things.” Issue 90, February 2016.

Wall newspapers of the charitable educational project “Briefly and clearly about the most interesting things” (site site) are intended for schoolchildren, parents and teachers of St. Petersburg. They are delivered free of charge to most educational institutions, as well as to a number of hospitals, orphanages and other institutions in the city. The project's publications do not contain any advertising (only founders' logos), are politically and religiously neutral, written in easy language, and well illustrated. They are intended as informational “inhibition” of students, awakening cognitive activity and the desire to read. Authors and publishers, without pretending to provide academic completeness of the material, publish interesting facts, illustrations, interviews with famous figures of science and culture and thereby hope to increase the interest of schoolchildren in the educational process. Please send your comments and suggestions to: pangea@mail..

We thank the Education Department of the Kirovsky District Administration of St. Petersburg and everyone who selflessly helps in distributing our wall newspapers. The material in this issue was prepared specifically for our project by the staff of the Kostenki Museum-Reserve (authors: chief researcher Irina Kotlyarova and senior researcher Marina Pushkareva-Lavrentieva). Our sincere gratitude goes to them.

Dear friends! Our newspaper has more than once accompanied its readers on a “journey to the Stone Age.” In this issue, we traced the path that our ancestors took before becoming like you and me. In the issue, we “disassembled to the bones” the misconceptions that have developed around the most interesting topic of human origins. In the issue, we discussed the “real estate” of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. In the episode we studied mammoths and got acquainted with the unique exhibits of the Zoological Museum. This issue of our wall newspaper was prepared by a team of authors from the Kostenki Museum-Reserve - “the pearl of the Paleolithic,” as archaeologists call it. Thanks to the finds made here, in the Don Valley south of Voronezh, our modern idea of ​​the “Stone Age” was largely created.

What is "Paleolithic"?

"Bones in the past and present." Drawing by Inna Elnikova.

Panorama of the Don Valley in Kostenki.

Map of Stone Age sites in Kostenki.

Excavations at the Kostenki 11 site in 1960.

Excavations at the Kostenki 11 site in 2015.

Portrait reconstruction of a person from the Kostenki 2 site. Author M.M. Gerasimov. (donsmaps.com).

A dwelling made from mammoth bones on display at the museum.

Currently, many monuments of that era have been discovered all over the world, but one of the most striking and significant is Kostenki, located in the Voronezh region. Archaeologists have long called this monument the “pearl of the Paleolithic.” Now the Kostenki Museum-Reserve has been created here, which is located on the right bank of the Don River and occupies an area of ​​about 9 hectares. Scientists have been conducting research on this monument since 1879. Since that time, about 60 ancient sites have been discovered here, dating back to a huge chronological period - from 45 to 18 thousand years ago.

The people who lived in Kostenki at that time belonged to the same biological species as modern ones - Homo sapiens sapiens. During this time, humanity managed to go through a great path from small groups of the first Europeans, who had just begun to explore the new continent, to highly developed societies of “mammoth hunters”.

The discoveries of that era showed that people not only managed to survive in the extreme conditions of the periglacial zone, but also created an expressive culture: they knew how to build quite complex residential structures, make a variety of stone tools and create amazing artistic images. Thanks to the finds in Kostenki, our modern understanding of the Stone Age was largely created.

A real fragment of that era - the remains of a dwelling made of mammoth bones, inside which stone and bone tools were found - is preserved under the roof of the museum in Kostenki. This piece of ancient life, preserved through the efforts of archaeologists and museum workers, will help us uncover some of the secrets of the Stone Age.

Nature of the Ice Age

Map of the location of sites from the period of maximum Valdai glaciation.

Low sedge – “mammoth grass”.

"Landscape of the Ice Age in Kostenki." Drawing by N.V. Garoutte.

"Mammoths in the Don Valley." Drawing by I.A. Nakonechny.

Drawing of the Adams mammoth skeleton (Zoological Museum). Found in 1799 in the Lena River delta. The age of the find is 36 thousand years.

Taxidermy sculpture of a mammoth on display at the museum.

"Mammoth Kostik" Drawing by Anya Pevgova.

"Baby Mammoth Styopa." Drawing by Veronica Terekhova.

"Mammoth Hunting" Drawing by Polina Zemtsova.

"Mammoth John" Drawing by Kirill Blagodir.

The time to which the main exhibit of the museum, a dwelling made from mammoth bones, dates back can be called the harshest in the last 50 thousand years. Almost the entire north of Europe was covered by a powerful ice sheet, due to which the geographical map of the continent looked somewhat different than it does now. The total length of the glacier was about 12 thousand kilometers, with 9.5 thousand kilometers falling on the territory of the northern part of the modern Russian Federation. The southern border of the glacier passed along the Valdai Hills, because of which this glaciation got its name - Valdai.

The conditions of the periglacial steppes were very different from the modern conditions of the same latitudes. If now the climate of our Earth is characterized by a change of seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter, each of which is characterized by special weather conditions, then 20 thousand years ago, most likely, there were two seasons. The warm season was quite short and cool, and the winter was long and very cold - the temperature could drop to 40-45º below zero. In winter, anticyclones lingered over the Don Valley for a long time, providing clear, cloudless weather. Even in summer, the soil did not thaw much at all, and the soil remained frozen throughout the year. There was little snow, so the animals could get food for themselves without much difficulty.

At that time, on the territory of Kostenki there was a completely different zone of vegetation distribution than now. Then these were meadow steppes, combined with rare birch and pine forests. In the river valleys, well protected from the wind and moistened, currants, cornflower, and impatiens grew. It was in the river valleys that small forests were hidden, protected by the slopes of the riverine hills.

One of the plants of the Ice Age has safely survived to this day - this is low sedge, which is colloquially called “mammoth grass”, since it was a contemporary of this animal. Currently, this unpretentious plant can also be found on the slopes of the Kostenki hills.

The fauna of that time was also very different from the modern one. On the Kostenki hills and in the river valley one could see herds of primitive bison, reindeer, musk oxen, and Pleistocene horses. Wolves, hares, arctic foxes, polar owls and partridges were also permanent inhabitants of these places. One of the notable differences between Ice Age animals and modern ones was their large size. Harsh natural conditions forced animals to acquire thick fur, fat and large skeletons to survive.

The “king” of the animal world of that time was the majestic giant - the mammoth, the largest land mammal of the Ice Age. It was in his honor that the entire fauna of that time began to be called “mammoth.”

Mammoths were well adapted to dry, cold climates. These animals were dressed in warm skin, even the trunk was overgrown with hair, and its ears were ten times smaller in area than those of the African elephant. Mammoths grew up to 3.5-4.5 meters in height, and their weight could be 5-7 tons.

The dental apparatus consisted of six teeth: two tusks and four molars. Tusks were the most characteristic external feature of these animals, especially males. The weight of the tusk of a large seasoned male averaged 100-150 kilograms and had a length of 3.5-4 meters. The tusks were used by animals to strip twigs and tree bark, and to crack ice to get to water. The molars, located two at a time on the upper and lower jaws, had a grooved surface that helped grind coarse plant food.

Mammoths could eat from 100 to 200 kilograms of plant food per day. In summer, the animals fed mainly on grass (meadow grasses, sedges), and the terminal shoots of shrubs (willow, birch, alder). From constant chewing, the surface of the mammoth's teeth was very worn down, which is why they changed throughout his life. In total, he had six changes of teeth during his life. After the last four teeth fell out, the animal died of old age. Mammoths lived for about 80 years.

These giants disappeared from the face of the Earth forever due to climate change that occurred following the melting of the glacier. The animals began to get bogged down in numerous swamps and overheat under their thick shaggy fur. However, most of the species of mammoth fauna did not die, but gradually adapted to the changed natural conditions, and some of the animals of that time have safely survived to this day.

Life and occupations of Stone Age people

Diagram of a dwelling with five storage pits. Parking lot Kostenki 11.

Ancient hunters. Reconstruction of I.A. Nakonechny.

Flint spear or javelin tip. Age - about 28 thousand years.

"The warmth of the hearth." Reconstruction of the dwelling in the Kostenki 11 parking lot of Nikita Smorodinov.

Working with wood carving. Reconstruction.

Scraping a fox skin with a scraper. Reconstruction.

Decorating leather clothes with bone beads. Reconstruction.

Making clothes. Reconstruction of I.A. Nakonechny.

Animal figures made of marl. Age – 22 thousand years.

Women's figurine with jewelry.

Schematic representation of a mammoth. Age – 22 thousand years.

Panorama of the museum in Anosov Log in the village of Kostenki.

Some archaeologists believe that mammoths could have disappeared due to constant hunting by primitive people. In fact, at the Kostenki sites of that time, a huge number of mammoth bones are found: only to create one ancient house, people used about 600 bones of this animal! Therefore, the people who lived in Kostenki at that time are called “mammoth hunters.” And, indeed, the mammoth was a very attractive prey for the people of that time. After all, a successful hunt for him provided almost everything necessary for life: a mountain of meat, which allowed him to forget about hunting for a long time; bones that were used to build houses; skins for insulating homes; grease for interior lighting; tusks, which were used to make various crafts.

Paleolithic man was tied to herds of mammoths: people followed the animals and were always in close proximity to them. They also learned to defeat this gigantic beast using a round-up hunt. It is believed that mammoths were very timid animals and, hearing the sudden cries of hunters who were deliberately driving them to the edge of a cliff, they took flight and fell into a natural trap. A mammoth that rolled down a steep hillside broke its limbs and sometimes even its backbone, so it was not difficult for hunters to finish off the animal. To hunt mammoths, Stone Age people used spears and darts, the tips of which were made of flint - a stone with sharp cutting edges.

Thanks to the successful hunting of mammoths, people were able to stay in one place for a long time and live relatively sedentary lives. In harsh weather conditions, it was difficult for a person to survive without a warm, comfortable home, so they had to learn how to build them from available materials - mammoth bones, earth, wooden sticks and poles, animal skins.

In Kostenki, archaeologists distinguish five types of residential structures, which differ from each other in shape and size. One of them is preserved in the museum building. It is a round house with a diameter of 9 meters with a foundation-base 60 centimeters high, made of mammoth bones and soil holding them together. At an equal distance from each other along the entire perimeter of the wall-base, 16 mammoth skulls were dug in, in order to then secure poles in them, forming both the wall of the house and at the same time its roof. Mammoth skin was not suitable for covering a home, as it was too heavy, so our ancestors chose lighter skins - for example, reindeer.

Inside the house there was a fireplace, around which once in the Stone Age the whole family gathered for meals and ordinary family conversations. They slept right there, not far from the fireplace, on warm animal skins spread on the floor. Apparently, the house also housed a workshop for the manufacture of stone tools - over 900 fragments of small flakes and flint flakes were found on one square meter of the dwelling. The list of tools of that time is very small: these are incisors, scrapers, points, piercings, knives, tips, needles. But with their help, people performed all the necessary operations: sewed clothes, cut meat, cut bone and tusk, and hunted animals.

Around the ancient house, archaeologists discovered 5 storage pits that were filled with mammoth bones. Considering the harsh climate and annual frozen ground, scientists concluded that these pits were used as refrigerators for storing food supplies. Currently, some peoples of the Far North are constructing exactly the same storage pits.

During the Ice Age, people worked tirelessly. Men hunted, brought prey home, and defended their clan. Women in the Stone Age played an important role - they were in charge of the household: they guarded the hearth in the house, prepared food, and sewed clothes from animal skins. In order to simply survive in the extreme conditions of the periglacial zone, people had to constantly work.

However, the finds of that era showed that people not only knew how to build quite complex dwellings and make a variety of stone tools, but also create amazing artistic images. A real work of art and one of the most striking finds are animal figurines made by an ancient master from dense limestone - marl. They all depict a herd of mammoths. Moreover, in this herd one can distinguish large and medium-sized individuals, as well as a small mammoth calf. What were these figurines used for? There are several answers to this question. One possibility suggests that it could have been some kind of forgotten game like modern checkers. Another is that these were primitive abacus for counting the number of mammoths. And finally, these could just be children's toys.

The so-called “Upper Paleolithic Venus” was a symbol of female beauty, motherhood and continuation of life. In Kostenki, archaeologists found a whole series of small female figurines. All these figures are very similar: a head bowed down, a huge belly and breasts filled with milk, instead of a face, as a rule, a smooth surface. These are ancient symbols of procreation. One of them was wearing a lot of jewelry: a necklace on her chest and a necklace belt above her chest, and small bracelets on her elbows and wrists. All these are ancient amulets that are designed to “protect” their owner from many problems.

Another mysterious piece of Ice Age art is a drawing done by an ancient artist on slate. This image was also found by archaeologists in Kostenki. Having carefully examined the drawing, you can easily guess the characteristic silhouette of a mammoth: high withers, strongly drooping butt, small ears... But the ladder standing next to the animal makes you wonder: were mammoths really domesticated? Or does this drawing reproduce the moment of cutting up the carcass of a defeated animal?

Despite the many years of painstaking work of archaeological scientists trying to open the veil over the secrets of the Ice Age, much remains unclear. Maybe you, dear friend, will be the one who can make an incredible discovery, take part in archaeological excavations and make a unique find. In the meantime, we invite you to the Kostenki Museum-Reserve so that you can see with your own eyes an ancient house made of mammoth bones and learn in more detail about the Stone Age era.

Kostenki is one of the oldest known settlements of modern man in Europe.

Chief researcher Irina Kotlyarova and senior researcher Marina Pushkareva-Lavrentieva. Museum-reserve "Kostenki".

We are waiting for your feedback, our dear readers! And thank you for being with us.

The mammoth is a mystery that has aroused the curiosity of researchers for more than two hundred years. What were they like, how did they live and why did they die out? All these questions still do not have exact answers. Some scientists blame famine for their mass death, others blame the Ice Age, and others blame ancient hunters who destroyed herds for meat, skins and tusks. There is no official version.

Who are mammoths

The ancient mammoth was a mammal belonging to the elephant family. The main species had sizes comparable to those of their close relatives - elephants. Their weight often did not exceed 900 kg, and their height did not exceed 2 meters. However, there were more “representative” varieties, whose weight reached 13 tons and height - 6 meters.

Mammoths differed from elephants in having a more bulky body, short legs and long hair. A characteristic feature is large curved tusks, which were used by prehistoric animals to dig out food from under snow rubble. They also had molars with a large number of thin dentino-enamel plates, which were used for processing fibrous roughage.

Appearance

The skeletal structure of the ancient mammoth is in many ways similar to the structure of the Indian elephant living today. Of greatest interest are the giant tusks, the length of which could reach up to 4 meters and weight up to 100 kg. They were located in the upper jaw, grew forward and bent upward, “spreading” to the sides.

The tail and ears, pressed tightly to the skull, were small in size, there was a straight black bang on the head, and a hump stood out on the back. The large body with a slightly lowered rear was based on stable legs-pillars. The legs had an almost horn-like (very thick) sole, reaching a diameter of 50 cm.

The coat had a light brown or yellowish-brown tint, the tail, legs and withers were decorated with noticeable black spots. The fur “skirt” fell from the sides, almost reaching the ground. The “clothes” of prehistoric animals were very warm.

Tusk

A mammoth is an animal whose tusk was unique not only for its increased strength, but also for its unique range of colors. The bones lay underground for several thousand years and underwent mineralization. Their shades have acquired a wide range - from purple to snow-white. Darkening, which occurs as a result of the work of nature, increases the value of the tusk.

The tusks of prehistoric animals were not as perfect as the tools of elephants. They were easily worn down and developed cracks. It is believed that mammoths used them to obtain food for themselves - branches, tree bark. Sometimes animals formed 4 tusks, the second pair was thin and often fused with the main one.

Unique colors make mammoth tusks popular in the production of luxury boxes, snuff boxes, and chess sets. They are used to create gift figurines, ladies' jewelry, and expensive weapons. Artificial reproduction of special colors is not possible, which explains the high cost of products created from mammoth tusks. Real ones, of course, not fake ones.

Everyday life of mammoths

60 years is the average life expectancy of giants who lived on earth several thousand years ago. Mammoth - its food was mainly herbaceous plants, tree shoots, small shrubs, and moss. The daily norm is about 250 kg of vegetation, which forced the animals to spend about 18 hours daily on feeding and constantly change their location in search of fresh pastures.

Researchers are convinced that mammoths practiced a herd lifestyle and gathered in small groups. The standard group consisted of 9-10 adult representatives of the species, and cubs were also present. As a rule, the role of leader of the herd was assigned to the oldest female.

By the age of 10, the animals reached sexual maturity. At this time, matured males left the maternal herd, moving to a solitary existence.

Habitat

Modern research has established that mammoths, which appeared on earth approximately 4.8 million years ago, disappeared only about 4 thousand years ago, and not 9-10, as previously thought. These animals lived on the lands of North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Bones of mighty animals, drawings and sculptures depicting them are often discovered at the sites of ancient inhabitants

Mammoths were also widespread in Russia in large numbers; Siberia is especially famous for its interesting finds. A huge “cemetery” of these animals was discovered in Khanty-Mansiysk, even a monument was erected in their honor. By the way, it was in the lower reaches of the Lena that the remains of a mammoth were first (officially) found.

Mammoths, or rather their remains, are still being discovered in Russia.

Causes of extinction

Until now, the history of mammoths has large gaps. In particular, this concerns the reasons for their extinction. A wide variety of versions have been put forward. The original hypothesis was proposed by Jean Baptiste Lamarck. According to the scientist, the absolute extinction of a biological species is not possible, it only turns into another. However, official descendants of mammoths have not yet been identified.

I disagree with my colleague, blaming the death of mammoths on a flood (or other global disasters that took place during the period of extinction of the population). He argues that the Earth has often experienced short-term catastrophes that completely exterminated a particular species.

Brocchi, a paleontologist originally from Italy, believes that every living creature on the planet has a certain period of existence. The scientist compares the disappearance of entire species with the aging and death of an organism, which is why, in his opinion, the mysterious history of mammoths has ended.

The most popular theory, which has many adherents in the scientific community, is climate theory. About 15-10 thousand years ago, due to the northern zone of the tundra-steppe, it became a swamp, and the southern zone was filled with coniferous forests. The grasses that previously formed the basis of the animals’ diet were replaced by moss and branches, which, according to scientists, led to their extinction.

Ancient hunters

How the first people hunted mammoths has not yet been established exactly. It was the hunters of those times who are often accused of exterminating large animals. This version is supported by products made from tusks and skins, which are constantly discovered in the sites of the inhabitants of ancient times.

However, modern research makes this assumption increasingly questionable. According to a number of scientists, people only finished off weak and sick representatives of the species, without hunting healthy ones. Bogdanov, the creator of the work “Secrets of the Lost Civilization,” gives reasonable arguments in favor of the impossibility of hunting mammoths. He believes that it is simply impossible for the weapons that the inhabitants of the ancient Earth possessed to pierce the skin of these animals.

Another compelling argument is the stringy, tough meat, almost unsuitable for food.

Close relatives

Elefas primigenius is the name of mammoths in Latin. The name indicates their close relationship with elephants, since the translation sounds like “first-born elephant.” There are even hypotheses that the mammoth is the progenitor of modern elephants, which were the result of evolution, adaptation to a warm climate.

A study by German scientists who compared the DNA of mammoth and elephant suggests that the Indian elephant and mammoth are two branches whose genealogy has been traced back to the African elephant for some 6 million years. The ancestor of this animal, as modern discoveries have shown, lived on Earth approximately 7 million years ago, which makes the version valid.

Known specimens

“The Last Mammoth” is a title that can be assigned to baby Dimka, a six-month-old mammoth whose remains were found by workers in 1977 near Magadan. About 40 thousand years ago, this baby fell through the ice, which caused his mummification. This is by far the best preserved specimen yet discovered by mankind. Dimka has become a source of valuable information for those researching the extinct species.

Equally famous is the Adams mammoth, which became the first full-fledged skeleton to be shown to the public. This happened back in 1808, since then the copy has been located in the Museum of the Academy of Sciences. The find belonged to the hunter Osip Shumakhov, who lived by collecting mammoth bones.

The Berezovsky mammoth has a similar story; it was also found by a tusk hunter on the banks of one of the rivers in Siberia. The conditions for excavating the remains could not be called favorable; the extraction was carried out in parts. The preserved mammoth bones became the basis for a giant skeleton, and soft tissues became the object of research. Death overtook the animal at the age of 55.

Matilda, a female of a prehistoric species, was discovered by schoolchildren. An event happened in 1939, the remains were discovered on the banks of the Oesh River.

Revival is possible

Modern researchers never cease to be interested in such a prehistoric animal as the mammoth. The significance of prehistoric finds for science is nothing other than the motivation underlying all attempts to resurrect it. So far, attempts to clone the extinct species have not yielded tangible results. This is due to the lack of material of the required quality. However, research in this area is not going to stop. Currently, scientists are relying on the remains of a female found not so long ago. The specimen is valuable because it has preserved liquid blood.

Despite the failure of cloning, it has been proven that the appearance of the ancient inhabitant of the Earth has been restored exactly, as well as his habits. Mammoths look exactly as they are presented on the pages of textbooks. The most interesting discovery is that the closer the period of residence of a discovered biological species to our time, the more fragile its skeleton is.

Different humanity Burovsky Andrey Mikhailovich

How did you hunt a mammoth?

How did you hunt a mammoth?

In the 19th century, such a great scientist, without exaggeration, as V.V. Dokuchaev, wrote about trapping pits for mammoths as the only possible way to extract them.

This corresponded to the ideological ideas of society. One part of educated society refused to even discuss the possibility that mammoths and humans could coexist. This is against God! The other part of the educated society consisted of evolutionists, but the evolutionists knew everything in advance: a wild man with stone tools could not hunt such a large animal!

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, on the instructions of the Historical Museum in Moscow, painted the painting “The Hunt for the Mammoth.” It was written in 1885, but is still reproduced in textbooks and popular books. This is a wonderful picture. It is very well made, and, of course, everything is depicted “as it should be.” Here is a mammoth in a huge pit, and a hunter struck by its tusks, whom his friend is holding by the hand. And a crowd of wild “Paleolithics” who throw stones at the mammoth.

Here an elderly warrior with a wild cry throws a huge stone at a mammoth. The skins in which people are wrapped flutter, stones fly, a mammoth roars, a wounded man lies with his face distorted from pain and fear... Very artistic. Everything was as imagined at the end of the 19th century.

There’s just one problem: the mammoth lived in different climatic zones, but was also found in those places where permafrost was widespread... Including in modern Yakutia... and in Kostenki, near modern Voronezh, during the era of mammoth hunting, the climate was closer to the subarctic. And there they also hunted him.

It would probably be cruel to take Vasnetsov to modern Yakutia and ask him to dig a hole for a mammoth, even with an iron shovel. It would be wrong to mock this worthy man. But this sinful desire appears in me every time I look at his wonderful picture.

Or maybe this is how they hunted mammoths?

This same idea of ​​a mammoth trap is reproduced in many books for teenagers. One of them, very popular, describes in detail how an ancient man digs such a trap, how he catches a mammoth and kills it, and one of the hunters falls into a hole and is trampled by the mammoth.

Such pictorial and literary works recorded the outdated point of view of vulgar materialism and its brainchild - unilinear evolutionism.

Nowadays, along with the leading theory of driven hunts and ideas about the role of hunting with a spear, there are simply defiantly bold assumptions that the coexistence of mammoth and man is not a struggle, but a symbiosis.

Not to mention the fact that many African tribes are known to go after an elephant with a spear alone. They kill the elephant both from the approach, sneaking up on it, and from ambush, but the heavy losses of people during these hunts are unknown.

Was this known in the 19th century? Was. In 1857–1876 Africans killed about 51 thousand elephants with the simplest weapons. True, the Africans did not act for food, but to sell ivory to Europeans. The most important thing is that technically the “overkill” was at least theoretically possible. But scientists preferred to believe in pitiful paleolithics, incapable of active hunting.

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Constellation Orion - on a mammoth tusk A small bone plate measuring 38 mm long, 14 mm wide and 4 mm thick is probably not part of something larger. According to German archaeologists, this is evidenced by the nature of the patterns: they cover the entire surface

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11.6. Who did the Olduvai people hunt? Around residential areas in Olduvai, the fossilized remains of giraffes, various antelopes and a tooth of Deinotherium, an extinct elephant, were found. The Olduvai people ate heavily and may have preferred to dine outside rather than in a shelter where there was no room.

For people from the past, the main activity was gathering and hunting, and this ensured their existence without hunger. Interesting information has reached our time about how they hunted mammoths, because it was thanks to this that it was possible to obtain not only meat, but also clothing, which was created from the skins of dead animals.

An animal such as a mammoth is known to modern man as the prototype of an elephant, which today can be seen in the zoo or on TV. This is a mammal of impressive size that belongs to the elephant family. Hairy elephants surprised ancient ancestors with their weight and height, when the largest reached a height of more than six meters and weighed at least twelve tons.

The ancient representative of the animal world differed from the elephant in having a more bulky base and short legs, and its skin was covered with long and shaggy hair. A characteristic feature of the mammoth were massive tusks, which acquired a particularly pronounced bend. The prehistoric representative used this element to dig out food from under snow rubble. And it would seem that a small person would not be able to kill such an animal for personal gain. Despite primitive weapons and ignorance of the laws of nature, people managed to learn how to successfully hunt mammoths.

The desire to obtain more meat food, which helped to survive in harsh living conditions, led to the fact that ways were found to catch and kill huge animals, most often mammoths. Naturally, such an adventure was beyond the power of one person, so they went out hunting in whole groups, which led to the desired result.

Although today, each of the hunting options can be questioned, based on the opinion of scientists. It is they who argue that most likely people living in prehistoric times only killed animals that were sick and weak, and could not take care of their safety.

The author of the book “Secrets of the Lost Civilization” is confident that, given the quality of the tools that ancient people possessed, it was almost impossible to penetrate the skin of a mighty animal. Bogdanov also says that mammoth meat was tough and stringy, and therefore not at all suitable for food.

Without living in antiquity and without being one of the representatives of the Paleolithic, it is difficult to verify the information that comes to a person as reliable. Therefore, to a greater extent we have to take many things on faith. Next, we will simply consider the versions that are considered official and truthful.

Based on the ideas of many modern artists and archaeologists, the hunt for mammoths took place as follows. The main idea in capturing a mammoth was that it was necessary to dig a deep hole, which posed a great danger to the animal. A depression dug in the ground was covered with a pre-prepared pole, which was masked with leaves, branches, grass and anything that could not make the animal wary.

Under various circumstances, a mammoth weighing several tons could accidentally fall into this hole, from which he could not get out. Then representatives of the tribes came to the place of capture and finished off the animal with their sharpened sticks, clubs and stones. To further secure the trap, stakes were installed at the bottom of the pit. Also, the primitive representatives drove the mammoth into this pit in a group, creating wild screams and screams, as a result of which the frightened animal fell into the prepared funnel.

People carefully studied the habits and habits of animals, so very often the road that led the animals to a watering hole was known. If you happened to encounter an animal in an area where there were mountains, then they drove it to a cliff and forced the mammoth to stumble and fall. And the already crashed animal was subjected to butchering. These are the most famous methods that were used by ancient people to catch mammoths.

Most often, the pits that served as traps for ancient elephants, after his death, became an excellent storehouse for meat obtained from the massive animal. Such a reserve made it possible for a long time not to worry about having to get food again.

Everyone can only guess whether these are real methods of hunting mammoths or not. It’s just hard to believe that mammoths were stupid animals and allowed themselves to be driven into a trap where death awaited them. After all, you just have to look into the eyes of a modern elephant - intelligence and kindness are visible there.