ABSTRACT
During the Ice Age, climatic conditions prevailed in the Siberian steppe far to the south of the present polar zone equivalent to those encountered in the arctic tundra. Ice Age hunters of the Ukrainian periglacial steppe lived in primitive tent-like shelters whose remains have survived as distinctive oval collections of mammoth bones buried on an ancient terrace of the Dniester River. The presence of quantities of charcoal within each tent ring, indicative of hearths, suggests that the tents were heated. The Ukrainian hunters would have experienced no difficulty in building tents. In addition to birch bark, the hides of reindeer or steppe bison could have served as tent covers. The excavation of dwelling sites in the Ukraine and along the Lena River in Yakutia has yielded evidence consistent with what would be found had these hunters lived in conical skin or bark covered tents.
