Stone age cave dwelling?

City Bound · #1 05/04/12, 09:20 PM

Ok, this might be a strange question to post here, but in this forum people have shown some knowledge of anthropology.

I stumbled upon this great drawing of stone age people living in a cave and the drawing showed an idea about cave dwelling that I have never heard before. In the drawing, people living in the cave had small tents for sleeping and then a fire pit in the center if the cave for cooking and light. The mouth of the cave was rocked up to about chest height with stones to keep animals out.

This drawing blew my mind. It makes so much sense. I always thought they were sleeping out in the open curled up near the fire. Tents or other sheltters in a cave means much more warmth and hot stones could be brought into the tents to warm the tents.

Anyway, is this drawing true?

Harry Chickpea · #2 05/04/12, 09:26 PM

Probably not. Textiles are from a different era. A fire at the entrance would be less noxious and keep animals away somewhat. However, Fred is unavailable for calls right now, so I could be wrong.

vicker · #3 05/04/12, 09:30 PM

People In china are living in caves today, C B. google it. There should be some good pictures.

City Bound · #4 05/04/12, 09:36 PM

Vicker I have seen those cave homes in china and I love them. I would love to live in one.

Harry, the tents were not made from textiles, they were made of animal hides and heald up with branches. Even if in reality it was not a tent that they slept in but instead a shelter made from branches, leaves, ferns, and sod, still a shelter within a cave would be a much warmer sleeping place then just laying on the floor under a wolly mamouth hide.

Horse Fork Farm · #5 05/04/12, 09:41 PM

Freaky... me and the kids found a large cave yesterday! Obviously didn't go in,but I was thinking to myself if TSHTF I just found my new air conditioned home! lol Frigid air was wafting out and you could hear water.

City Bound · #6 05/04/12, 10:14 PM

Sonshine · #7 05/04/12, 11:11 PM

When I was a kid we visited Merimac Caverns and there was a log cabin built inside of the cave. They said it was used as one of Jessie James' hideouts.

wogglebug · #8 05/05/12, 08:58 PM

Why did people sleep in four-poster beds inside their big manor-houses? Because it was a little tent that kept the warmth in. And hope for no beans in the mid-afternoon meal.

kimmom2five · #9 05/05/12, 09:11 PM

In the Earth's Children series of books, that is the way one of the tribes lives inside their caves. The author Jean Auel is supposed to do lots of research so maybe it was feasible.

City Bound · #10 05/05/12, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wogglebug

Why did people sleep in four-poster beds inside their big manor-houses? Because it was a little tent that kept the warmth in. And hope for no beans in the mid-afternoon meal.

you are right woggle.

Old Vet · #11 05/05/12, 10:43 PM

Usually caves are damp or wet a tent will give some protection from the wet but the fire should be at the mouth to keep the air clean and hot rocks can warm the area inside the cave. A cave has the same temperature all the time or close to it. In my area caves are about 55 degrees all the time and a little cold to sleep in with out any warmth.

ovsfarm · #12 05/05/12, 10:54 PM

In my area we have few actual "hole in the ground" caves. Most of what we have are also called rock shelters by the anthropologists. They often form at the head of a creek or other stream of water, but sometimes form much higher up along a rock wall. They remind me of more of a 3-sided cave type structure rather than a more typical cave.

Many previous residents have lived in these rock shelters, from local hermits in the early and mid-1900's, to occasional escaping slaves in the early and mid-1800's, European explorers and scouts in the 1700's, and native Americans prior to that. All the way back to the Adena and Hopewell.

Some of the caves are drier than others. Some have an internal spring or seep that could be a convenient water supply if you were hiding out. Most are fairly inaccessible, and would be really easy to fortify and guard.

My plan for building a nuclear fallout shelter would involve dumping a big load of hay bales down to the mouth of one of the larger rock shelter caves and building a front wall out of them (several feet thick).

City Bound · #13 05/05/12, 11:54 PM

old vet, you are right the temp in a deep cave is pretty constant and it is dangerous to light a fire in them. In this drawing the people were only living about 100 feet into the cave and the fire was about 50 ft from the mouth of the cave.