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Hominin fossils and artefacts are often found in metres-deep sediment in caves. What caused the mess? Didn’t hominins clean?
Lyn Wadley
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Our ancestors generally moved camp regularly, so there was little need for them to clean their living areas. As archaeologists, we are grateful that there was little tidying up because the things left lying around provide information about animals hunted, plants eaten and the tools used for various tasks. Early humans moved not because they wanted to avoid housework, but because they followed game movements and available plant resources.
Some exceptions to this rule involved tossing bones into fires – archaeologists often find burned bones in ancient fireplaces. This waste disposal was one way of getting rid of the smell of meat that might attract dangerous predators to the camp. It also isn’t comfortable to sit on sharp bones.
When a camp was particularly attractive and people stayed there for a few weeks rather than a few days, some type of site maintenance was necessary to dispel insect and rodent pests. At Sibudu cave in South Africa, people living there between 58,000 and 38,000 years ago burned their grass bedding and laid fresh grass on the ashes, as crawling pests like ticks can’t move freely through ash.
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