The first ever structure built by humans

What we recognize as humans have only been around for just under 300,000 years, evolving from a string of species very close to, but not quite humans as we know them today. A major change in human evolution occurred around 50,000 years ago with massive changes in our brain structures when humans became more intelligent and stopped living in such an animalistic way, but for most of the time we have existed, we have been very primitive as a race and have only had pottery for a few thousand years.

Because of the primitive nature of our history, we haven’t been able to create anything that would last until people first started to stack stones and create the first ancient buildings that people recognize, like the pyramids or the Roman Colosseum. People would have started to build things as soon as people started to exist, but the earliest structures would have been nothing more than animal skin-covered stick huts and simple shelters. The first ever structure built by humans, which there’s still evidence of, is at a site located in Kostyonki in southwestern Russia.​

It consists of a circular structure about 40 feet wide and appears to have been made mostly from woolly mammoth bones. There are at least 60 different mammoth skeletons that were used to make the structure, which was presumably also covered in their skins, but how old actually is it?

The site has been dated as being built around 25,000 years ago

This would make it the oldest known structure ever built by humans, out-dating other such ancient sites like the pyramids of Giza by over 20,000 years. Previously the oldest still-standing structure was a temple in modern-day Turkey called göbekli tepe which was built around 10,000 BCE, though it’s much more elaborate than a large bone tent.

What’s been found at the site?

As well as over 60 mammoth skeletons the bones of foxes, horses, and deer have been found there along with individual sections within the structure. It seems that the interior was divided into various working areas, such as an area for butchering meat and one for cooking, as well as various unidentified sections of unknown use.

Some of the mammoth bones used in creating the structure seem to have been put there partially whole, with hips and back legs from the same animal forming one support, with partial skeletons from other mammoths making up the rest of the main supports. This would suggest the bones were put in place when they were still fresh and connected with tissue which gives credit to the theory that the site was occupied by hunters who killed their own mammoths instead of just finding bones and bringing them back.

What was it and why was it built where it was?

It has been suggested that the site was probably a religious site since such a huge amount of work went into building it in the first place, especially considering how hard it would be to kill a mammoth with stone tools. This theory hasn’t been accepted by all because several hundred pieces of charcoal were recovered from a fire pit within the structure, suggesting someone lived there for a long time.

One of the most accepted theories is that the site was there simply because it was in excellent hunting ground, combined with a spring in the area that doesn’t freeze during the winter months. A mammoth would provide a huge amount of meat and skin, and because the structure is made up of over 60 mammoths it would suggest the area had a very high mammoth population at the time, providing huge amounts of food for anyone brave enough to try and kill one.

Remains of tubular vegetables like parsnips and carrots have been recovered from the site, but it’s most likely that these came from wild gathering instead of farming, and were only collected to supplement the very heavy meat-based diet of whoever lived there. Who these people were and what happened to them will forever remain a mystery, but for decades and possibly hundreds of years, an ancient tribe constructed the oldest surviving structure known to man and lived there by hunting mammoths and drinking spring water.