Dwellings - Troglodytes

  

Troglodytes: then and now

 

The word troglodyte, a human cave dweller, is from the Greek “trogle (hole) and “dyein” (go in). 

When first thinking of cave dwellers I imagined prehistoric people - the stereotypical caveman – but only a small portion of humanity has ever dwelt in caves.  They tend to be cold, dark, damp and inhospitable.  In prehistoric times cave bears, cave lions and giant cave hyenas inhabited them – the reason why these creatures were given their names!



The first troglodytes:

The Grotte du Vallonnet, in France, was used by “cavemen” approximately 1 million years ago.  Remains of stone tools and animals were found but no indication that people actually lived there.

A cave system in Beijing was inhabited by various types of humans from c750,000 years ago (or c530,000 years, depending what you read).  Excavations uncovered hundreds of stone tools and the skulls and bones of Peking Man, Homo erectus and modern man, Homo sapiens.

 


 

It is thought that Neanderthals (around 130,000-40,000 years ago) dwelt in caves in Europe and Asia and Homo sapiens (about 170,000 years ago) lived in caves in South Africa. 

Then came the cave dwellers of the Upper Paleolithic period (about 40,000 years ago).  They are the ones who produced cave paintings, the brilliant examples of hunter-gatherer art.  A famous example is the Lascaux Cave in France. 

 




In more modern times small groups of people have lived or hidden in natural caves, often for refuge during war, but most troglodytes lived (and still live) in homes intentionally carved out of rock. 

For thousands of years people lived in caves at Petra but 30 years ago the Jordanian government relocated its cave dwellers to a nearby village.   Shortly after Petra was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The relocated Bedul tribe are the only people allowed to sell or work inside Petra.

Cappadocia in central Turkey is famous for its distinctive tall, cone-shaped rock formations and for the Bronze Age dwellings carved by troglodytes - and later used for refuge by early Christians. 

 



Troglodytic towns are frequently built into and around geological features including caves or overhangs and are quite common in Europe.  Some have been lived in since prehistoric times.  La Roque St Christoph, a troglodyte city at the base of an immense limestone wall in the Dordogne, was inhabited from Neanderthal times until 1588.

 


    

Setenil de las Bogetas, Spain

 

In Pennsylvania newcomers used caves as homes.  They dug into low cliffs and then build walls and roofs of sods and brush.  In 1685 the Governor ordered the caves destroyed and filled in, even though many families were living in them.

At least 30,000,000 people in China live in cave homes because they are warm in winter and cool in summer and they prefer to live in caves than concrete homes in a city.

 In Australia many families have carved homes into the underground opal mines to escape the desert heat.

 In the Loire Valley abandoned caves are being renovated as affordable housing.

 

Groups of people continue to hide in natural or man-made caves as refuge during war. 

On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the bombing of Caen began and lasted for more than 2 months.  Three quarters of the city was destroyed by allied bombs but Caen and its surroundings are riddled with caves and limestone quarries.  Roughly a third of Caen’s 60,000 inhabitants took refuge in the quarries and survived.  Some stayed underground for weeks.

A similar situation continues in Syria where hundreds of refugee families live and seek shelter from shelling in caves that were previously used to shelter sheep.  The conditions are grim.

 





I think there could be a good case for revisiting troglodytic living - but as a choice, not as a necessity.

Jeanie 05/01/21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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