[HN Gopher] People built bone circles at the edge of ice sheets
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       People built bone circles at the edge of ice sheets
        
       Author : diodorus
       Score  : 58 points
       Date   : 2020-03-29 17:11 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | luckydata wrote:
       | Obviously they were protecting themselves from the ice walkers
        
       | xiaolingxiao wrote:
       | Winter is coming
        
         | ComputerGuru wrote:
         | Please do your part to keep HN meme-free.
        
           | DingleDook101 wrote:
           | NO FUN ALLOWED WE R SRS BSNS TECHPROFEZZINAL
        
       | Mikeb85 wrote:
       | Probably a hunting camp. Would explain the fact that the bone
       | circles were often occupied but not a permanent shelter, and the
       | large amount of mammoth bones.
       | 
       | Their permanent settlement would have likely been in a more
       | sheltered spot, while the camp would serve as base for
       | expeditions to hunt mammoths, then they'd be broken down and
       | taken back to their permanent settlement.
        
         | gerdesj wrote:
         | Perhaps. This bloke,
         | https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/apryor/sup...
         | says:
         | 
         | "In a future article, we will argue that their function as
         | food-storage facilities should be given further consideration,"
        
       | alexfromapex wrote:
       | Probably helped them predict severity of winter since they didn't
       | have the weather channel. Or maybe free water when it melts?
        
       | mirimir wrote:
       | Could they have provided protection from other predators?
       | 
       | Edit: That was a straight question!
        
         | GuardianCaveman wrote:
         | I agree why else build a circular wall but to keep animals and
         | enemies out unless they had animal skins draped and that was
         | the walls to support the roof?
        
       | harryf wrote:
       | Refrigeration ?
        
         | slowmovintarget wrote:
         | Or ritual, perhaps.
        
         | pugworthy wrote:
         | Interesting idea. Lots of meat from a kill, need to store it,
         | but also protect it from preditors
        
           | ianai wrote:
           | This seems like the obvious case. They could probably
           | excavate large areas of ice for mass refrigeration with ease.
        
         | monadic2 wrote:
         | There are many ways to refrigerate with snow around--everything
         | from burying to immersing in animal fat to curing. I'd guess
         | this was intended at least in part for regular human
         | interaction, e.g. a reliable hunting camp.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | cosmiccatnap wrote:
       | It was to warn them not to walk on the ice ffs.
        
         | danielhlockard wrote:
         | Did you read? They were circles with remnants of fires and tool
         | making in the middle. Not like a barrier lining the end of the
         | ice or something.
        
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       (page generated 2020-03-29 23:00 UTC)