14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific study conducted by experts at the University of Colorado in Denver, Neanderthals enjoyed a well-designed and clean living room just as much as we do. The latest discoveries in the field suggest that their living spaces were properly taken care of.
The group also determined that our cousins used to have separate rooms of the house dedicated to various activities and chores. For example, they did not cut the meat they ate in the same room where they made their tools. Some rooms in ancient shelters were used exclusively for socializing.
Details of the research appear in a paper published in the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology. The team arrived at these conclusions after investigating a dig site called Riparo Bombrini, which is located in Italy. It was occupied in parallel by both species for thousands of years.
Scientists now hope to continue this line of study for the Homo sapiens populations that lived at this site as well. Their ultimate goal is to compare the two ways of life, and determined the similarities and differences between the two species. Thus far, the study revealed how closely related they were.
“There has been this idea that Neanderthals did not have an organized use of space, something that has always been attributed to humans,” explains the lead author of the new study, UCD assistant professor of anthropology Julien Riel-Salvatore.
“But we found that Neanderthals did not just throw their stuff everywhere but in fact were organized and purposeful when it came to domestic space,” adds the expert, quoted by Science Blog.
The cave system the researchers studied for this paper is structured on three levels. The topmost was used for various tasks, such as killing and preparing hunted or trapped animals for cooking.
The middle level was a base camp of sorts. Researchers found evidence to suggest that this area was used as long-term accommodation, as opposed to the one directly underneath, which was a shorter-term residential area.
“We found some ochre throughout the sequence but we are not sure what it was used for. Neanderthals could have used it for tanning hides, for gluing, as an antiseptic or even for symbolic purposes – we really can’t tell at this point,” Riel-Salvatore adds. Ochre is a natural yellow, orange or brown pigment found in the ground.
Significant differences were also uncovered between the work areas where tools were made and the areas around the fire. “When you make stone tools there is a lot of debris that you don’t want in high traffic areas or you risk injuring yourself,” Riel-Salvatore explains.
“There are clearly fewer stone artifacts in the back of the shelter near the hearth,” the expert concludes.