Russian scientists have found a “nesting doll” from the Paleolithic: Arctic fox in a mammoth

A unique result was obtained during excavations in Western Siberia

Paleontologists have found a unique man-made “matryoshka” doll made of 23,000-year-old animal bones in Western Siberia. In the wide pelvic bone of the mammoth, elements of the arctic fox skull were placed.

Researchers from the National Research Tomsk State University, the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy. V.S. Sobolev SB RAS found a unique object made by the hands of an ancient man in the Kargatsky district of the Novosibirsk region.

Excavations at Wolf’s Mane, Asia’s largest mass grave of bones of mammoths and other animals from the last glacial maximum, have been ongoing since 1957. Previously, stone tools of people were found here, but these were single finds. Scientists could not find traces of the long-term stay of an ancient person in the Wolf’s Mane until 2020.

During the next excavations, which were carried out with the assistance of the Russian Science Foundation, a site was discovered here, on which, in addition to animal bones, there were a large number of stone objects (more than 1,400 pieces per square meter), as well as a large ash spot up to 35 cm thick. In total, there was an ancient site here, which for a long time was used for making tools and processing animal skins. It has been established that the people of the dwelling located here lived during the last glacial maximum – 23 thousand years ago.

Among the stones and scattered animal bones, scientists found a large object of bones, the like of which no paleontologists had ever found before. This is a kind of “matryoshka”, from several nested parts of skeletons from different animals. Its widest part is the femur of a mammoth with an artificially hollowed out rectangular niche 8 cm deep. This niche contains parts of the skull, lower jaw and tooth of a polar fox, as well as a fragment of a rib of an unknown large mammal.

The purpose of the ancient “matryoshka” is not clear. It could be made as a totem or a child’s toy.