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Archeologists have discovered the remains of a cave chamber in Cantabria, Spain, which they believe was once used as a bedroom by Neanderthals. The late Pleistocene room, found in the Esquilleu Cave, included a hearth and grass beds that seems to have once been covered with animal fur. According to the report published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Neanderthals used the room between 53,000 to 39,000 years ago.
Scientists say the residents changed the bedding material very often and used the old ones in the hearth. "It is possible that the Neanderthals renewed the bedding each time they visited the cave," lead author and a researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science's Kimmel Center for Archaeological Research Dan Cabanes told Discovery News. Cabanes also believes that the beds were used as sitting areas when the Neanderthals were awake preparing stone tools, cooking, eating and snoozing near the fire. "In some way, they were used to make the area near the hearths more comfortable," he said
Previous studies had revealed that Neanderthals in other places created similar living areas in caves and rock shelters. With all these discoveries, the main question according to Cabanes is what might have caused such a resourceful species to go extinct. "In my opinion, Neanderthal extinction may have been caused by several factors working at the same time," he said. "Environmental changes, a slightly different social organization, a different rate of reproduction, spread of diseases, direct competition for resources and many other factors may have played an important role in the fate of Neanderthals."
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