Hunter-gatherers kept an 'orderly' home, Yorkshire site study finds, even in the Stone Age

Star Carr in North Yorkshire is a world-famous Mesolithic site, providing some of the earliest known evidence of British dwellings and examples of architecture.

Now research teams, from the Universities of York and Newcastle, have been able to in-point where in the home various domestic duties would have been carried out.

They used microscopic evidence from the use of stone tools found inside three structures dating to over 11,000 years ago at the Star Carr site.

Dr Jess Bates, from the University of York’s department of archaeology said: “We found that there were distinct areas for different types of activity, so the messy activity involving butchery, for example, was done in what appears to be a designated space, and separate to the ‘cleaner’ tasks such as crafting bone and wooden objects, tools or jewellery.

"This was surprising as hunter-gatherers are known for being very mobile, as they would have to travel out to find food, and yet they have a very organised approach to creating not just a house but a sense of home."

One of the structures found at Star Carr was believed to have been shaped like a teepee and made of wood from felled trees, as well as coverings possibly made from plants, like reeds, or animal hides. There is still very little known about why hunter-gatherers would build such structures and continued to throughout the Mesolithic period.

Dr Bates said: “This new work, on these very early forms of houses suggests, that these dwellings didn’t just serve a practical purpose in the sense of having a shelter from the elements, but that certain social norms of a home were observed that are not massively dissimilar to how we organise our homes today.”

Previous work has shown evidence that hunter-gatherers kept their dwellings clean, as well as orderly, with indications that sweeping of the inside of the structure took place. The new research is published in the journal PLOS One.

Dr Bates said the study gives some insight into how people lived - and what these spaces meant to the people that lived there.

“In modern society we are very attached to our homes both physically and emotionally, but in the deep past communities were highly mobile so it is fascinating to see that despite this there is still this concept of keeping an orderly home space," she said.