Life in the Neanderthal home

The home is a fundamental human niche, an engineered and enclosed space insulating us from the extremes of the environment. But for the first two million years of our evolution we lacked structured homes. The caricature of ‘early man' living in caves, couldn't be more wrong.

The archaeological evidence now suggests that humans started living in ‘homes' at the same time as using fire and complex tools, fuelling human development. Intriguingly, we now see this unseen revolution to include the Neanderthals. Moving beyond stereotypes of the cave men, in this talk Matt will explore what the Neanderthal home was really like.

With areas dedicated to five main themes - Humans, Technology, Earth, Cosmos and Engineering - New Scientist Live will demonstrate the role science, technology and engineering plays in shaping the world around us.

Matt's presentation will take place on the Humans Stage on 23 September (2.30-3.10pm).

Further details

• Life in the Neanderthal home