The architecture of mammoth bone circular dwellings of the Upper Palaeolithic settlements in Central and Eastern Europe and their socio-symbolic meanings

Abstract

In central and eastern Europe, the development of the architecture of mammoth bone dwellings is associated with the abundance of mammoth bone beds which were exploited by human groups in the Upper Paleolithic. The present paper focuses on the mammoth bone circular dwellings of Gravettian and Epigravettian cultures: Pavlovian (Early Gravettian of Moravia), Gagarino and Pouchkari (Gravettian of Eastern Europe), Kostienki 11/1a (Zamiatnine culture), and Mezinian. The difference between architectures is discussed, focusing on the procurement of the mammoth bones, the ground plan, and the 3D reconstruction of the dwellings. A spectacular “parietal art” is visible in the dwellings of the Mezinian, in the grouping in the outer wall of jaws and long bones showing a geometric pattern of lines, chevrons and zigzags, which are also figured in the painted bones of the dwellings and in the mobile art of the statuettes, tools and various artefacts, confirming they are the manifestation of a socio-symbolic system of the Mezinian culture.