Research at the Mesolithic site of Starkar in North Yorkshire shows that ancient hunter-gatherers organized their homes into specific activity areas, suggesting that although they were nomadic they had a structured approach to family life similar to modern household organization.
Archaeological finds at Starkar, a famous Mesolithic site in North Yorkshire, show that hunter-gatherers maintained orderly living spaces by demarcating specific "areas" for various household activities. A team of researchers from the Universities of York and Newcastle examined microscopic evidence for the use of stone tools within three structures (possibly conical or dome-shaped) found at the star-shaped Carr site, which date to more than 11,000 years ago.
They found that a range of activities may have been carried out in the home, including work with wood, bones, antlers, plants, hides, meat and fish. The researchers then mapped the spatial patterns of these activities to determine where they might be taking place within the home.
Dr Jess Bates, from the Department of Archeology at the University of York, said: "We found that there were separate areas for different types of activities. For example, messy activities involving butchering appeared to have been carried out in a designated space, separate from 'cleaner' work such as making bone and wooden objects, tools or jewellery.
"This is surprising because hunter-gatherers are known to be very mobile in that they had to travel in search of food, but they built their homes in a very methodical way, not just to build a house but to create a sense of home. This new work on these very early house forms shows that these dwellings not only served a practical purpose of sheltering from the elements, but also adhered to certain social norms for families that were not too different from the way we organize our families today."
Previous research has also shown evidence that hunter-gatherers kept their homes clean and orderly, with signs that they cleaned the interiors of buildings.
Starkar provides the earliest known evidence of British dwellings and some of the earliest architectural forms. One of the structures discovered is believed to be shaped like a cone and was built using wood from felled trees and coverings that may have been made from plants such as reeds or animal hides. Why hunter-gatherers built such structures and continued to build them throughout the Mesolithic is still poorly understood.
Dr Bates said: "We now know not only that hunter-gatherers built these shelters, but that they had a shared understanding of how to organize tasks within these shelters. In modern society we are very attached to our homes, both physically and emotionally, but in the past communities were very mobile and therefore "The idea that we can still see organized domestic spaces is fascinating. This study shows that micro-scale analysis is a very exciting way to understand the details of these homes and what these spaces mean to the people who live there."
Compiled from /ScitechDaily