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Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa
Lyn Wadley1, Irene Esteban2,3, Paloma de la Peña2
1Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2001, Johannesburg, South Africa. lyn.wadley@wits.ac.za.
Abstract:
Early plant use is seldom described in the archaeological record because of poor preservation. We report the discovery of grass bedding used to create comfortable areas for sleeping and working by people who lived in Border Cave at least 200,000 years ago. Sheaves of grass belonging to the broad-leafed Panicoideae subfamily were placed near the back of the cave on ash layers that were often remnants of bedding burned for site maintenance. This strategy is one forerunner of more-complex behavior that is archaeologically discernible from ~100,000 years ago.
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