Cave dwellers are people who live in caves or in the shelter provided by overhanging rocks. Prehistoric people are often called “cave men,” but relatively few people have ever lived in caves. Caves are uncommon in most parts of the world. Also, people have found most caves too cold, damp, or dark to live in. The presence of such animals as cave bears, cave hyenas, and cave lions also discouraged cave dwelling. However, some prehistoric people did live in caves, and some well-known cave sites preserve evidence of occupation.
One of the most famous cave sites lies near Beijing (also spelled Peking) in northern China. Prehistoric people occupied this cave at various times between 770,000 and 400,000 years ago. The earliest known use of a cave by prehistoric people in Europe was at the Elephant Cave in the Atapuerca Hills of northern Spain. Prehistoric people first occupied this cave about 1.2 million years ago.
By about 150,000 years ago, some Neandertal people lived in caves in Europe and western Asia. Cro-Magnon people later lived in caves in Europe from about 45,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Neandertals and Cro-Magnons built tents and other shelters in the cave entrances rather than living in the dark interior. The Cro-Magnons did use the deep interiors for ceremonial purposes, painting pictures of animals on the cave walls. Scientists do not know why they made such paintings, often in dark parts of the cave that were difficult to reach.
Cave dwelling sites also appear in the Southwestern United States. Some Ancestral Pueblo, a Native American people once known as the Anasazi, lived in cave villages there from about A.D. 1000 to 1300 (see Anasazi). Today, some people in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Near East still live in caves. In Spain, for example, about 3,000 Roma (sometimes called Gypsies) make their homes in caves near Granada. Their dwellings range from single rooms to caves of about 200 rooms.
See also Cave paintings and drawings; Lascaux Cave.
