A new study has found that early humans were building and carefully maintaining grass beds inside a South African cave as far back as 200,000 years ago. The findings offer the most detailed microscopic look yet at how Stone Age people organized their living spaces.
The research was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Peter Morrissey of the University of the Witwatersrand led the study, which examined bedding deposits at Border Cave, a rock shelter in the Lebombo Mountains on the South Africa-Eswatini border.
Researchers analyzed deposits spanning 200,000 to 43,000 years ago using micromorphology. The technique involves studying razor-thin slices of sediment under a microscope.
The team identified six distinct types of bedding deposits. Three of them have no published equivalent anywhere in the world.
The other three closely match deposits found at Sibhudu Cave and Diepkloof Rock Shelter, two other South African sites, but with notable differences. Those differences likely reflect variations in construction methods, maintenance habits, or the types of plants used.
Six bedding types found, three without global parallels
The bedding at Border Cave was built primarily from Panicoid grasses, unlike at Sibhudu, where sedges dominated. Occupants repeatedly refreshed the bedding by adding new layers over time.
In many cases, they also deliberately spread ash across the floor before laying down fresh material. Morrissey’s team said this behavior was likely intentional, possibly to deter insects, and it appeared consistently across multiple occupation periods.
Some bedding was deliberately burned as part of routine maintenance. Other deposits showed only partial or localized charring. Younger deposits, dating between 60,000 and 43,000 years ago, showed signs of lighter use and less frequent burning, suggesting the cave saw less intensive occupation during those periods.
Older deposits told a different story. Those layers showed heavy trampling, repeated burning, and dense concentrations of material left behind by humans. This pointed to short but intense periods of occupation, even during stretches otherwise considered quieter in the cave’s history.
Early humans refreshed grass beds with ash and fire
Researchers also found that while the transition from the Middle Stone Age to the Early Later Stone Age brought notable changes in tools, beads, and other cultural artifacts, bedding construction habits stayed largely consistent. Morrissey said this suggests the behavior was deeply rooted regardless of broader cultural shifts.
The study substantially expands the global record of microscopically analyzed Stone Age bedding, which remains extremely rare worldwide.
Morrissey added that systematic sampling of the full Border Cave sequence in future research would help build a clearer picture of how human behavior changed across the site’s long history.
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