Mammoth graveyard in Siberia suggests humans interacted with them for hundreds of years

The woolly mammoths are one of the most fascinating animals that have gone extinct. Most of us know about woolly mammoths from movies like The Ice Age and the occasional news reports of the discovery of their fossils in the frozen, remote Siberia. There is some evidence to suggest that the woolly mammoth may have coexisted with early humans.

Mammoth graveyard in Siberia??

But a new study has suggested that mammoths may have interacted with humans for hundreds of years. The findings of a recent study that looked into what is widely described as a 'mammoth graveyard' in Siberia have suggested that early humans and the woolly mammoths could have co-existed for at least 800 years.

Also read:?De-Extinction Of Woolly Mammoth Gets One Step Closer, Through Elephants

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Mammoth graveyard was created by humans?

The 'mammoth graveyard' was discovered in the 1940s along the Berelekh River in Siberia, which got its name due to the presence of thousands of mammoth bones. Initially, it was believed that it was somehow a natural occurrence, but a recent study has said that it was not.?

According to the study, the mammoth graveyard was created by humans and acted as a “factory” for ivory and bone tool production.

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Close to a human settlement?

Findings of the study published in Quaternary Science Reviews said that thousands of disarticulated bones, representing a minimum of 156 individual mammoths, were found in the 'mammoth graveyard'. The mammoth graveyard was not too far from a prehistoric human settlement, where excavations uncovered several artifacts made from mammoth bone fragments, including tools and an engraving of a mammoth.

No mass death events?

Initially, it was believed that early humans may have discovered the graveyard and started using the bones from there to make tools. But the new study said that there was an overlap of around 800 years between the mammoth graveyard and the human settlement.

Also read:?Paleontologists Discover Rare Mummified Woolly Mammoth In Canadian Gold Mine

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“The Berelekh ‘mammoth graveyard’ can no longer be considered a natural accumulation in the form of a fluvially-derived concentration, mass death event, or a series of mass death events in the same location,” researchers wrote. “Instead, it should be considered an example of a humanly created mass accumulation of mammoth remains, now widely known in East Siberia.”

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