Neanderthal Technology

about the cave sites than the open-air ones because, historically, it was the cave sites of Western Europe that were first explored by archaeologists and also because open-air sites are harder to find - many of them have disappeared under deep mud deposits or under the rising postglacial seas. Caves, moreover, aid the survival of archaeological material and can preserve the records of remote millennia. B In south-west France, the limestone caves of the Périgord region made ideal homes for the Neanderthal people. There were good supplies of flint to hand for axes and the like, and the caves were often sited in small river valleys that offered protection against the worst of the weather. The Neanderthalers liked south-facing caves, for obvious reasons of sunshine and wind avoidance, and caves at some height above the valley floor offered refuge from floods and good game-watching vantage points. The Périgord region during the last ice age was, in fact, an exceptionally benign habitat for humans. It enjoyed a rather maritime climate with cooler summers that permitted the extension of tundra and steppe over its higher plateaux, and its year-round high levels of sunshine favoured the growth of the ground plants needed by…