Researchers believe they used burnt rocks to heat water

Aug 28, 2015 18:49 GMT  ·  By

This might come as a bit of a surprise but, as it turns out, Neanderthals didn't simply set up camp in one cave or another without first making sure to spruce up the place and give it a homey feeling. 

Quite the contrary, archaeological evidence they cared quite a lot about their living conditions. So much so that calling them creatures of comfort, just like we are, wouldn't be that far-fetched.

They probably enjoyed the occasional hot bath

In a recent report, researchers with The Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution explain how, while exploring an ancient cave at an archaeological site in Spain, they came across a hole that evidence indicates Neanderthals used to heat water.

The hole, measuring 16 x 12 x 4 inches (40 x 30 x 10 centimeters), is positioned close to one of the cave's wall. All around it, the team found evidence of hearths.

This leads them to believe that, some 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals in the area would use the hole to heat water. They did this by burning rocks and then simply dumping them in their miniature, rock-carved bathtub, the archaeologists behind this study suspect.

“The Neanderthals of the Abric Romaní (Capellades, Barcelona) site excavated a concave hole on the ground of 40x30x10 cm. It could be a container excavated with a digger stick with a finality of heat water,” they write in their report.

Furthermore, “This hole is located near the wall of the rockshelter and is enclosed of a high quantity of hearths, limestones and speleothemes with thermical fractures.”

Admittedly, there is no saying for sure why Neanderthals needed hot water. Then again, this discovery does prove that, contrary to popular opinion, these long-lost Earth dwellers were quite sophisticated.

There's even a Neanderthal bedroom in this cave

Interestingly, the same cave in which archaeologists found evidence that Neanderthals made their own hot water for indoor use features an ancient bedroom.

Well, not a bedroom per se, at least not one anything like ours, but an area that apparently served for sleeping and sleeping alone. Then, it looks like the cave's former inhabitants also had special areas for throwing away trash, making tools and butchering meat.

Plainly put, it would seem that Neanderthals weren't exactly strangers to the entire idea of interior design. Rather, their caves were oddly similar to our modern homes.

The hole used to heat water
The hole used to heat water

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Neanderthals were quite sophisticated, study reveals
The hole used to heat water
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