Tbh we are cave adapted organisms to a point. Remember when you got a fever or a cold, and all you wanted to do was curl up in a corner of the room with your blanket all over you? That is inherently the human brain trying to go into a “cave”, a more secluded area with less things that don’t overwhelm it. We’ve evolved to go into “return to cave” mode when we feel sick.
Archaeologist here, it’s heavily disputed if caves were that integral to our evolution. Issue is lack of studies. In much of Europe caves were very popular amongst researchers, but new studies began finding a ton of sites outside of caves. And remember this part of our evolution is not very significant. 99% of our evolutionary history we lived in Africa. Unfortunately the data is not as good and the areas not as well researched to say.
We do know many cultures have lived in areas for tens of thousands of years without access to caves.
What we can say though is people in regions with caves will use them at least seasonally
I feel like there is also a lot of a certain bias(selection bias? Observation bias?) i cant remember the name of. Basically, human sites inside of caves SHOULD be the thing we find most often because they are less likely to be eroded away. Whereas human sites that were right next to a river are much more difficult to find because the river has expanded, eroding away most of the evidence. You are left with small artifacts instead of paintings, fire pits, bone collections, etc.
Tbh we are cave adapted organisms to a point. Remember when you got a fever or a cold, and all you wanted to do was curl up in a corner of the room with your blanket all over you? That is inherently the human brain trying to go into a “cave”, a more secluded area with less things that don’t overwhelm it. We’ve evolved to go into “return to cave” mode when we feel sick.
Archaeologist here, it’s heavily disputed if caves were that integral to our evolution. Issue is lack of studies. In much of Europe caves were very popular amongst researchers, but new studies began finding a ton of sites outside of caves. And remember this part of our evolution is not very significant. 99% of our evolutionary history we lived in Africa. Unfortunately the data is not as good and the areas not as well researched to say.
We do know many cultures have lived in areas for tens of thousands of years without access to caves.
What we can say though is people in regions with caves will use them at least seasonally
I feel like there is also a lot of a certain bias(selection bias? Observation bias?) i cant remember the name of. Basically, human sites inside of caves SHOULD be the thing we find most often because they are less likely to be eroded away. Whereas human sites that were right next to a river are much more difficult to find because the river has expanded, eroding away most of the evidence. You are left with small artifacts instead of paintings, fire pits, bone collections, etc.
Survivorship bias
Thats the one. Isnt that the same bias that always gets brought up in regards to planes getting shot down?
The very same
I make some kind of reference to “cavemen” at least once a month and I never stopped to consider this.
Most if not all mammals will do that.
I would like to return to the womb when I’m sick and get life support via umbilical cord.