Clearly a lot of time and effort went into building this structure so it was obviously important to the people that made it for some reason,”
maybe to stay warm?
My thought as well-the article says they found charcoal, and there were trees there-mammoth bones for a frame + conifer branches-pine, spruce, etc-would make a pretty cozy wikiup-at least as good as the ones they teach you to make when you go to those primitive skills classes...