Build houses with mammoth bones

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 44,000-year-old house built by the Neanderthals in Molodova, eastern Ukraine.

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This is a circular house, made up of 116 large bones including skull, jaw, 14 tusks and elephant leg bones. Inside with at least 25 furnaces filled with ash shows that it has been used for a considerable period of time.

Neanderthals died about 30,000 years ago, originally known as nomads who dwelled in natural caves. They were the first human ancestors to settle in the area, experts from the National Museum of History Naturelle in Paris said.

Archaeologist Laetitia Demay, the head of the study, said: 'Neanderthal is the oldest known group in the use of bone to create shelter. They purposely chose the bones of the largest mammals like mammoths. This shows that Neanderthals can predict climate change. Lack of timber to build houses led them to use bone instead of windbreak '.

The team believes that Neanderthals hunted and eaten elephants before using their bones. At the same time, they also collected some animal bones that died of natural causes.

'We can now add this detail to the list of progressive behaviors including burial of corpses, cooking, jewelry and speaking,' said Simon Underdown, a senior lecturer who studies people Neanderthal at Oxford Brookes University said.