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posted by hubie on Tuesday July 30 2024, @12:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the love-makes-a-cone-a-home dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Archaeological findings at the renowned Mesolithic site of Star Carr in North Yorkshire suggest that hunter-gatherers maintained an ordered living space by designating specific ‘zones’ for various domestic activities.

The research team from the University of York and the University of Newcastle looked at microscopic evidence from the use of stone tools found inside three structures – potentially cone-like in shape or domed – dating to over 11,000 years ago at the Star Carr site.

They found that there was a range of activities that were likely to have taken place inside the ‘home’, including wood, bone, antler, plant, hide, meat, and fish-related work. The researchers then plotted out spatial patterns for these activities to pinpoint where within the dwelling these activities might have occurred.

Dr Jess Bates, from the University of York’s Department of Archaeology, said: “We found that there were distinct areas for different types of activity, so the messy activity involving butchery, for example, was done in what appears to be a designated space, and separate to the ‘cleaner’ tasks such as crafting bone and wooden objects, tools or jewelry.

“This was surprising as hunter-gatherers are known for being very mobile, as they would have to travel out to find food, and yet they have a very organized approach to creating not just a house but a sense of home.

[...] Star Carr provides the earliest known evidence of British dwellings and some of the earliest forms of architecture. One of the structures found was believed to be shaped like a cone and was constructed out of wood from felled trees, as well as coverings possibly made from plants, like reeds, or animal hides. There is still very little known about why hunter-gatherers would build such structures and continued to throughout the Mesolithic period.

Dr. Bates said: “Not only do we now know that hunter-gatherers were constructing these dwellings, but they had a shared group understanding of how to organize tasks within them.

“In modern society, we are very attached to our homes both physically and emotionally, but in the deep past communities were highly mobile so it is fascinating to see that despite this there is still this concept of keeping an orderly home space.

Reference: “Spatial organisation within the earliest evidence of post-built structures in Britain” by Jessica Bates, Nicky Milner, Chantal Conneller and Aimée Little, 15 July 2024, PLOS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306908


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ledow on Tuesday July 30 2024, @01:49PM (7 children)

    by ledow (5567) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @01:49PM (#1366341) Homepage

    This very much falls into the trap of "anyone older than we have records for must have been as dumb as a bag of rocks".

    This caveman stereotype is really ignorant coming from scientists.

    Humans 11,000 years ago were physically no different from us. They were nearly 300,000 years ago too.

    There's no reason to suggest they were any stupider, only that they lived in a primitive time with different priorities in order to survive.

    OF COURSE someone butchering an animal is going to have an area set aside to do that, aware from their bedding, away from their clean clothes (these people were CLOTHED!), keeping foods separated, not wanting to deal with guts and gore when doing some fine bone needlework on their clothing, etc.

    It's literally so obvious that claiming it's a breakthrough is disingenuous and quite insulting to those people who lived in that time. Do you think they defecated on their food too?

    These people were organised hunter-gatherer nomadic families with clothing, tools, fire, their own housing. They were effectively us, but with limited resources, and built their own shelter, ate animals and do bushcraft, like any camper or self-sufficient person would do nowadays.

    And we're amazed that they butchered something over there, which would attract flies and all kinds of nasties, aware from where they sat for the night sewing a rip in their clothes and sleeping in their bed?

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:26PM (2 children)

      by SomeRandomGeek (856) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:26PM (#1366352)

      I would also point out that I expect nomadic people to be more organized than sedentary people. When you have to carry everything you own from one place to another literally on your back, you develop a strong sense of what you need and what you can do without. That includes minutely organizing every activity. "This is the food I need, and these are the things I need to bring to hunt/gather/butcher/cook them." "I need to bring this, but I can make that when we get there." Sedentary people, on the other hand, never throw anything out. "I might find a use for this later, so I'll just stash it in a corner."

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:33PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:33PM (#1366354)

        When do you suppose they opened the first roadside taco stand? I mean, nomads gotta eat too, during the migration

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2024, @01:57AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2024, @01:57AM (#1366417)

          Modded 0 for not quite funny.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by GloomMower on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:32PM (1 child)

      by GloomMower (17961) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @03:32PM (#1366353)

      It is all well and good to speculate they had done something a certain way, but it is better to show evidence that indeed this did actually take place. Isn't that all this piece is doing?

      It is also easy to speculate that maybe if very mobile, one might need to have organized mobile home as you can just "trash" the place and then move on quickly leaving your mess behind.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday July 30 2024, @04:16PM

        by SomeRandomGeek (856) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @04:16PM (#1366358)

        I had the same reaction as OP. The issue is not the research. I like the research. It is interesting. The issue is the way that the research was presented in the media. They tried to talk it up by saying what a surprise it is. It is only a surprise if you have a low opinion of our ancestors.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday July 30 2024, @04:25PM

      by VLM (445) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @04:25PM (#1366361)

      I think the fun comes in the actual data, not the journalist summary.

      For example, let's say they have great spatial data about wooden objects and jewelry. I wonder if they're in the same place (cross-contamination etc) that would seem to indicate the same people making wooden utensils were making jewelry. Or is jewelry making a specialized task someone else makes?

      In modern society, we are very attached to our homes both physically and emotionally, but in the deep past communities were highly mobile so it is fascinating to see that despite this there is still this concept of keeping an orderly home space.

      Some shared structures like public bathrooms and libraries are very clean and organized in some areas; less so in other demographic areas. Possibly despite being mobile they had huts to occasionally retreat to and craft in. "The weather is awful this week and we have to make some fishhooks anyway so we'll chill in the fish-hook-making-hut for a couple days, if no one else is chilling in it"

      Historically archeologists always took the easy way out and called everything they didn't understand a religious ritual site, which is tedious. For example there's a fishing lake nearby with a communal fish cleaning shed and I'm sure thousands of years later archeologists would spin elaborate yarns about sacrificial fish altars and fish worship whereas in reality all park visitors share this one fish cleaning facility for various convenience and cleanliness reasons. So it's a pleasant change of pace to see them try a new explanation.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday July 30 2024, @07:01PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @07:01PM (#1366372) Journal

      There's also evidence of them doing trepanning!

      Can't see them wanting to do that over your supper or your bed...

      My guess would be the females guided some of the separations as per cleanliness and livability, the males the rest due to simplicity of movement/etc.

      (My evidence is from teh women in my lives want clean areas they can live in, whereas guys just want to have access to tools in a timely manner). YYMV.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by quietus on Tuesday July 30 2024, @05:08PM

    by quietus (6328) on Tuesday July 30 2024, @05:08PM (#1366363) Journal

    The real clue was found in a corner of the dwelling though.

    A picture of a broom, a stick figure of a man, a noose, and the first word known to man: HELP.

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