Housekeeping, Neandertal-Style: Hearth Placement and Midden Formation in Kebara Cave (Israel)

Abstract

This paper shows that Neandertals used the Middle Paleolithic site of Kebara Cave (Israel) in a manner that is consistent with the way that modern hunter-gatherers might use such a cave. More specifically, I review evidence showing that these hominids (1) repeatedly built or rekindled their hearths in more or less the same place over a period of several thousand years; (2) periodically emptied their fireplaces and cleared the habitation area of larger lithic and faunal debris; and (3) disposed of hearth cleanings and other debris in a substantial midden that accumulated along the cave's north wall. These observations, while in no way proving that Neandertals were the cognitive equals of their Upper Paleolithic successors, should nonetheless help to counter the pervasive image of these hominids as bumbling dimwits whose habitations lacked human-like internal patterning or structure.