For example, everywhere they lived, they made fires, leaving charred wood along with cut and broken animal bones. Scientific dating of this material (by measuring radioactive changes) indicates that humans began living in parts of Europe over 40,000 years ago. Europe then, up until about 11,000 years ago, was much colder than it is today, with long, icy winters and short, chilly summers. Glaciers covered much of northern Europe and, farther south, glacier ice covered mountainous areas.
Hundreds of caves in Europe preserve various kinds of evidence of early humans, telling us something about how they lived. But there’s a lot we don’t know. You’ll look at the evidence from two caves, located very close together.
