Neanderthals lived in houses, not caves
December 20th, 2011 - 3:13 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Dec 20 (IANS) A 44,000-year-old house of the Neanderthals made from mammoth bones and decorated with carvings and pigments was discovered in eastern Ukraine. It had been thought Neanderthals, who died out around 30,000 years ago, were primitive nomads who lived in caves for shelter.
The house in Molodova had 25 hearths, which proves Neanderthals were not primitive nomads, and they could also anticipate changing seasons.
The discovery is believed to be the earliest example of a domestic house built from bone and suggests our ancestors were more homely than previously thought, Daily Mail reported Monday.
Researchers from the Museum National d’Histories Naturelle in Paris said it suggests the early human ancestors settled in areas where they built structures to live for extended periods of time.
The circular house was made up of 116 large bones, including mammoth skulls, jaws, 14 tusks and leg bones.
And inside at least 25 hearths filled with ash were also found, suggesting it had been used for some time, the Mail said.
It is believed the Neanderthals hunted and killed the mammoths for meat before using their bones but also collected some of the bones from animals that had died of natural causes.
It adds to the growing view that Neanderthals sophisticated humans who has their own culture and may have even used language to communicate, the newspaper added.
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- Modern humans would easily beat Neanderthals in a marathon - Jan 29, 2011
- Neanderthals cooked and ate vegetables - Dec 29, 2010
- Neanderthals may have lived 8,000 years longer than thought - May 13, 2011
- Neanderthals, modern humans 'are more brothers than distant cousins' - Sep 26, 2010
- Neanderthals developed technology on their own - Sep 22, 2010
- Fossils show mysterious human species lived 30,000 years ago - Dec 23, 2010
- Neanderthals ate vegetables, used plants as medicine - Jul 20, 2012
- Did Neanderthals use feathers to deck themselves up? - Feb 22, 2011
- American researchers unearth mammoth's tusk - Jun 07, 2010
- Remains of woolly mammoth found in Russia - May 27, 2011
- Modern humans scripted Neanderthals' disappearance - Jul 29, 2011
- Neanderthals' cosy bedroom with hearth and grass beds unearthed - Aug 07, 2010
- Neanderthal males had Popeye-like arms - Jul 07, 2010
- 30,000-yr-old finger bone found in Siberia is from 'mystery human relative' - Dec 23, 2010
Tags: ash, caves, changing seasons, daily mail, discovery, early human ancestors, eastern ukraine, hearths, histories, jaws, leg bones, mammoth bones, mammoths, neanderthals, nomads, paris, periods, pigments, skulls, tusks