| Man's earliest ancestors sought protection from the elements and predators in natural shelters such as caves and rock overhangs. Gradually, they learned to improve their caves with inlaid stone floors, walls at the entrances and fireplaces. Ultimately they began creating entirely new habitats in locations that had no natural shelter. The construction of such habitats may have been influenced by the cold weather of the ice ages cycles.
The earliest evidence of a man-made habitat dates to about 2,000,000 BCE and comes from Olduvai Gorge in Central Africa. A small circle of stones were found stacked, apparently to hold branches in position. This was clearly the work of Homo Habilis, our tool-making ancestor. This precursor to Homo Erectus was a tool user (more than a tool-maker), had campsites, and was using fire as early as 3,000,000 BCE.
Evidence of a wooden hut found at Terra Amata, near Nice in France, was dated to the Mindel Glaciation, or between 450,000 and 380,000 BCE. The hut included a hearth, or fireplace and was made by bracing branches with a circle of large and small stones. Similar stone circles are found throughout the upper and lower paleolithic. The basic design of such habitats may have remained unchanged for a million years.
References: Imbrie, J. and K. P. Imbrie (1979). Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
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