Mezhyrich, Cherkasy Oblast

Mezhyrich is an Upper Palaeolithic site in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine, famous for four mammoth-bone dwellings dating to approximately 18,200-17,400 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Discovered in 1965, the structures measure 12-24 square metres each and were built from hundreds of mammoth bones and tusks as shelters from extreme cold. Excavations by Ivan Pidoplichko (1966-74) and later teams uncovered flint and bone tools, storage pits, fire pits, ivory ornaments, and a schematic map carved on a mammoth tusk -- the oldest known map from Ukraine. Reconstructed dwellings are displayed at museums in Kyiv and New York.