Actually, the so-called “cavemen” didn’t actually live in caves. All of the evidence points to caves being used only for cultural and religious purposes, as well as a place to deposit the dead before burial was invented. Also, cave are often inhabited by large predators. Instead, most “cavemen” probably lived in dwellings similar to the one that Stirk is currently at.
That's very much beyond the limits of what we can say with our present knowledge. That line is usually peddled by the same kind of people who insist that all the human bones covered in knife marks that have been broken open for their marrow were just ritually defleshed for religious reasons and definitely not at all cannibalism. Archaeology, in general, is an unreliable field prone to fads, individual flights of fancy, and competing paradigms; I would not advise trusting anything you read in popular science books on the subject, or even most journal articles. There are too many people married to the feeling of thinking they're smarter than everyone else and willing to write whatever will back them up.
Interesting, do you have any evidence for long term inhabitation of caves?
Also, I watched a few videos on earthen ovens. You’re going to need the following.
1. Clay
2. Sand
3. Dried grass.
4. Thin pliable branches (willow or birch should work best).
5. Additional material to weave with.
6. Some water.
Note 1. This is just the stuff to make the oven. Not to cook in it.
Note 2. I’m assuming that you can do basketweaving pretty well.
Note 3. The oven needs to be protected from the elements (particularly rain), both during and after it’s construction.
The first step is to gather your material and find a place for the oven.
Once you’ve done this, you should begin mixing sand and clay in about a 50/50 ratio. You can mix them together by placing them an the ground and mashing them with your feet. You want a consistency that is damp and easy to mold, but holds together well and isn’t runny. You can add water if you need to, but remember that it’s better to have to add more water again then to have to add more clay and sand.
Once you have this made, use it to create a layer on the ground, a few centimeters thick, where you want your oven. The main part should be in the shape of a circle, and there should be a rectangle jutting off of it where the mouth of the oven will go (the mouth of the oven should be smaller in width than the oven itself, but stilllarge enough that you can get things in and out). This will be the floor of the oven.
Once this is done, start assembling a frame for the oven out of the pliable branches (remember to strip them of twigs and leaves first). Once this is done, weave in more branches and/or other material until there aren’t any holes left except for the door. What you are after is something that looks a but like an igloo and (excepting the door) doesn’t have any holes large enough for material to fall through. Note by the way, that the top of your entrance tunnel
must be between 60 and 65 percent of the height of the oven, otherwise the oven won’t work properly.
The next step is to place more of the clay/sand mixture around and on top of the oven. A layer a few centimeters thick should suffice.
Next, you will need to make some “cob”. To make the cob, do what you did to make the clay/sand mixture, but add some dried grass (you may need to reduce the amount of sand slightly).
Once you have the cob, use it to create another layer (again a few centimeters thick) around and on top of the previous layer. Make sure that the new layer adheres well to the old layer (don’t wait for the old layer to dry out before adding the new layer. You might also want to score the surface of the old layer).
Next, you will want to allow the oven to dry out as much as possible. This may take a few days…
Once, it’s dry enough, build a small fire in it (not that this will set the framework and basketry on fire. This is normal. You only needed them to form to inner chamber and keep the oven from collapsing while it was being built). Continue making small fires until the oven is dried out. Hopefully, there won’t be any large cracks or pieces falling off. Small cracks are fine (you can patch them with some of the 50/50 clay/sand mixture. If you did everything right, the outside of the oven should be relatively hard and sturdy (note, however, that it still won’t be as hard as rock -just close to it-, and it’ll still dissolve in the rain).
Congratulations on your new oven.
I still need to think about what tools you need. All the videos I saw were using tools that (mostly) had metal in them to operate the oven and cook the food.
That’s all for now!
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