Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa

Early plant use is seldom described in the archaeological record because of poor preservation. We report the discovery of grass bedding used to create comfortable areas for sleeping and working by people who lived in Border Cave at least 200,000 years ago. Sheaves of grass belonging to the broad-leafed Panicoideae subfamily were placed near the back of the cave on ash layers that were often remnants of bedding burned for site maintenance. This strategy is one forerunner of more-complex behavior that is archaeologically discernible from ~100,000 years ago.Fil: Wadley, Lyn. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Esteban, Irene. Nelson Mandela University; Sudáfrica. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: De La Peña, Paloma. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Wojcieszak, Marine. Royal Institute For Cultural Heritage; Sudáfrica. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Stratford, Dominic. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: Lennox, Sandra. University of the Witwatersrand; SudáfricaFil: D'Errico, Francesco. Universite de Bordeaux; Francia. University of Bergen; NoruegaFil: Rosso, Daniela Eugenia. Università di Ferrara; Italia. Université Côte D'azur; FranciaFil: Orange, François. Centre Commun de Microscopie Appliquée; FranciaFil: Backwell, Lucinda Ruth. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfrica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Sievers, Christine. University of the Witwatersrand; Sudáfric