Plant Cuttings

This image, captioned “Exploring a lava tube in Hawaii” by Dave Bunnell [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Dave_Bunnell] is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. [Ed. – the person shown in the picture is not one of the group of five Stone Age cave-travellers discussed in the post.]

What do readers make of this, “Five hunter-gatherers and their dog ventured into a cave in Italy…”?

Although this may sound like the beginning of a joke…, it’s actually much more serious than that. It’s the start of a popular science article by Guillermo Carvajal (writing at the ever-interesting blog LBV Magazine, a “digital magazine positioned at the intersection of history, archaeology, science, and culture with technology”).

So, what is the story of five hunter-gatherers (not forgetting the dog) all about? It’s an investigation into the source of illumination used by this band of cave-travellers over 14,000 years ago, documented by Daniele Arobba et al. (2026).

Pining for the light…

Working at Bàsura Cave** (part of the Toirano Caves system in the municipality of Toirano (in the province of Savona, Liguria, Italy), Arobba et al. (2026) conclude that the canine-accompanied quintet lit their path through the pitch-blackness*** of the cave using small-diameter pine twigs (rather than much-larger-diameter tree branches as was the popular assumption prior to this work (Guillermo Carvajal).

But, with no photographic evidence of this use, how did they reach this conclusion? Two factors essentially, reasoning from what material evidence was recoverable from the ancient site, and experimental archaeology****.

The physical remnants included charcoal***** remains scattered on the floor of the cave, and soot marks on the walls and ceiling. Analysis of the charcoal showed that not only were the majority from pine trees (of the Pinus sylvestris/mugo group, i.e., Scots pine, or mountain pine, respectively), but – and no doubt astonishingly – over 80% of those fragments were from young branches with a diameter of less than 2 or 3 centimetres. Together this finding suggested that small-diameter pine twigs – either singly or several bundled together – were used for lighting in the cave. But, rather than just assume that was the case, Arobba et al. (2026) carried out experiments.

Using branches of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) of different diameters they investigated how well they burnt as a potential light source. They found that the burning pine twigs produced sufficient light – and for a long-enough period – to permit a reasonably lengthy stay within the cave and illuminate a safe way back out. Furthermore, glare was minimised – so that people could actually see reasonably clearly. And, as an added bonus, the plant source and twig dimensions were very economical on consumption of the wood as fuel, enhancing the length of time that such a burning twig could be useful as a light source.

But, not only did Arobba et al. (2026) identify the lighting source used, their experiment – with modern-day human volunteers – also provided important information about the optimal positioning of torch-bearers in the group of five, and the need for close physical contact between the cave-travellers to help ensure their safety as they negotiated the dark interior of the cave. Analysis of pollen samples in the cave – some of it amongst fossilised cave-bear fur(!) [Ed. – I tell you, the original paper – and Caravajal’s masterful summary thereof – is well worth the read!] – suggested that the landscape in the area of the cave at the time was a sparse pine forest of Pinus sylvestris/mugo-type interspersed with steppe herbaceous formations. All of which seems pretty conclusive as to how humans were able to navigate the cave, and is an excellent example of using multiple sources of evidence to tackle a research question******.

For more on this, err … illuminating story*******, see Viviane Alves, Guillermo Carvajal, Gary Manners, Dario Radley, Benjamin Taub, here, here, here, and here. And, for a fascinating, thoughtful, in-depth analysis of the significance of the work – and a debunking of some of our modern-day assumptions about ancient humans – see the enlightening article by Andrew Klein.

Bedding-down for the night…

Whilst on the subject of caves, if you’re going to live in them, you need something to sleep on, and that will provide a more comfortable surface than the cavern’s cold, hard stone floor. Which is why Peter Morrissey & Dominic Stratford (2026)’s publication is timely********. Working in Border Cave, “a rockshelter high on a cliff in the Lebombo Mountains on the South Africa–Eswatini border”, Morrisey & Stratford (2026) have been investigating remains of what is interpreted as bedding*********.

Their study has revealed six different types of bed structures throughout a period of occupation between 200,000 and 43,000 years ago. From this blog’s botanically-biased point of view the main finding is that grasses (of the Panicoideae subfamily (Ho Dinh Hai) (Lucinda R Backwell et al., 2018)) predominated in the bedding. This is of interest because it contrasts with the main plant source for bedding in another South African cave site, Sibhudu Cave in Kwa-Zulu Natal. There, the artifacts were made primarily of plants of the sedge family, the Cyperaceae (Richard Carter; Anton A Reznicek) (“and other monocotyledons topped with aromatic leaves containing insecticidal and larvicidal chemicals” – Lyn Wadley et al., 2011).

Although both botanical mats presumably achieved the same purpose, the differences in composition could reflect the local availability of plants or may indicate cultural preferences in material selection. Whilst the botanical bedding could provide a softish sleeping surface, it was also pointed out that the mats were placed atop ash. In that particular combination it is suggested that the ash layer might act as a thermal insulator that helped to keep the surface of the bedding – and hence the sleeper – drier and warmer (Guillermo Carvajal). The ash may have also acted as a natural insect repellent (Guillermo Carvajal).

For more on this grass-cave-bed story, see Guillermo Carvajal, Kambiz Kamrani, Dario Radley, and Benjamin Taub.

A tight squeeze…

But, living in a cave may not be to everyone’s liking. For instance, to get an idea of how constrained – and decidedly claustrophobic – a living space a cave may be, the words of Kambiz Kamrani (reporting on the work of Ana Isabel Ortega-Martínez et al., 2026) are worth repeating, “To reach Sala Keimada, you have to want to be there. The chamber sits roughly 290 meters from the entrance of Cueva Palomera, in the Ojo Guareña Karst Complex of northern Spain, and the only way in is through a crawl passage 13 meters long and, in places, just 20 centimeters high. That is not a typo. You flatten yourself against the rock and drag yourself through. You do this in complete darkness, carrying light that has to be kept alive by reviving torches against the ceiling at the junction with the chamber”. [Ed. – all, after all of that, you may still end up having to face a cave-bear(!)]

How old is human fire..?

To finish, and returning to this post’s main topic of light in caves, we’ll just mention fires and news that “New analytical evidence pushes the cave’s [Wonderwerk Cave, northeastern South Africa] fire record back to 1.79 million years ago, and introduces a technique that may change how archaeologists look for ancient burning” (Kambiz Kamrani, summarising the work of M Dolores Marin-Monfort et al., 2026).

And there you have it. Far more (above and in the asterisked foot-notes below) about early humans and caves than I anticipated when I thought writing about cave-lighting was a good idea for a post. Still, it’s nice to be writing posts again after the long series of items about the book project.

* Lest there be any confusion, this post is NOT about the Enlightenment-era organisation known as The Illuminati (Annika Goldenbaum). Rather, it’s intended as a pun, a ‘play on words’ (Magedah Shabo), on the word illumination, “light that comes into a room, that shines on something, etc.”, “a lighting up”, because the post that follows is about how caves were lit in Stone Age (Marija Gimbutas et al.) times.

But, since the members of the Illuminati were to some extent shedding light on social and political practices that they were opposed to, it also works because this post highlights research that sheds new light on several topics concerned with cave-dwellers in prehistoric times. And, illuminati in this context could refer to the gang of five fire-carriers, or the burning pine twigs… [Ed. – bet you wish you never started this footnote now, eh Mr Cuttings.…?]

** Maybe somewhat surprisingly, Bàsura Cave is not only an important archaeological site, but is also a tourist attraction, which was rated as “#1 of 9 things to do in Toirano” (on 16^th June, 2026).

*** What American author of fantasy fiction Edgar Rice Burroughs would no doubt refer to as the ‘Stygian gloom’ (Alan Hanson). And this description is particularly apt for the cave-lighting post because Stygian refers to the River Styx, that marked the boundary between the world of the living and Hades, the world of the dead, and across which Charon the ferryman transported the souls of the dead in Classical tales. If Styx is pronounced in a certain way it sounds like sticks. And a wooden stick is, arguably, another word for a twig, those from pine being the source of the fuel to illuminate the caves…

**** For more on experimental archaeology, check out the Experimental Archaeology site – the “Resource hub for archaeologists with an interest in experimentation”.

***** This work will also introduce you to two new words (well, they were certainly new to Mr P Cuttings!). First, ichnology (and ichnological), “the study of trace fossils of once-living things”. Why? Because imprints of human – and canine – feet, hands, knees, elbows, etc. as found in the Italian cave are considered to be trace fossils. Second, anthracology, “the analysis and identification of charcoal which is preserved after carbonization”. And the relevance of this science is that “By identifying the species, age and other factors that have affected the growth of a tree, we can see what wood people were selecting for their fires. Sometimes it is clear that specific trees of specific sizes were selected for certain fires. For example, large logs from a wood that burns long and hot may have been selected for industrial purposes, wood that is fragrant may have been selected for funerary pyres, and dry brushwood that was littering the ground may have been selected for a quick campfire” (Amy Bunce [https://www.borderarchaeology.com/services/anthracology-wood-id/]).

****** Interestingly, this notion of pine twig lighting isn’t new to the 2026 scientific article. It was previously published five years ago by Marco Avanzini et al. (2021), as evidenced in their words, “Five individuals, composed of two adults, an adolescent and two children, entered the cave barefoot lightening the way with a bunch of wooden sticks (Pinus t. sylvestris/mugo bundles)” (p. 252).

******* Arobba et al. (2026)’s study of this cave and its mammalian tracks also sheds some light on the domestication of dogs (which source will also allow those who have read the pine lighting article to criticise its illustration of a cave-man and lit torch…) – long-viewed as ‘man’s beast friend’ (Tori Holmes) – by humans. Or, in the words of that study’s authors, their work “offers unique insights into early domestication processes and the role of animals in human survival and exploration of hypogean environments” (Federico De Sario et al., 2026).

As an aside, there is a suggestion that the raccoon of, and in, North America may become the ‘new’ dog (Shoshi Parks) in view of its apparent ‘trajectory of domestication’ (Jenny Lehman), as discussed by Artem Apostolov et al. (2025).

******** For context – and completeness – it should be noted that Morrisey & Stratford 2026‘s study presents new microscale insights into this phenomenon. Earlier publications had previously reported the presence of this grass bedding in Border Cave, e.g., Lyn Wadley et al., (2020) (and the scicomm articles about that work by Bruce Bower, Enrico de Lazaro, Cathleen O’Grady, and Irene Esteban & Paloma De La Peña Alonso, 2020), and Christine Sievers et al. (2022). And – should you want to have a go at making your own grass bed, you might like to seek inspiration from Juli Hennings & Harry Lynch’s Bureau of Economic Geology fact sheet.

********* Border Cave has another ‘claim to fame’ because a baboon bone [specifically, a fibula] found there contains markings that have been interpreted to be “the first artificial memory systems created by humans” (Guillermo Carvajal). Artificial memory systems (AMS) are tools that allow information to be stored and retrieved outside the human brain (e.g., Justin Jackson). For more on this story, see Carvajal’s scicomm item, which reports on the original work by Lloyd Austin Courtenay et al. (2025).

REFERENCES

Artem Apostolov et al., 2025. Tracking domestication signals across populations of North American raccoons (Procyon lotor) via citizen science-driven image repositories. Front Zool 22(1): 28; doi: 10.1186/s12983-025-00583-1

Daniele Arobba et al., 2026. Archaeobotanical investigations and experimental activity performed at Bàsura Cave (Toirano, NW Italy) reveal clues on Epigravettian cave lighting systems. Quaternary International 772: 110335; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2026.110335

Marco Avanzini et al., 2021. Following the father steps in the bowels of the Earth: The ichnological record from the Bàsura Cave (Upper Palaeolithic, Italy), pp. 251-276. In: Andreas Pastoors & Tilman Lenssen-Erz (Eds) Reading Prehistoric Human Tracks. Springer, Cham; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60406-6_14

Lucinda R Backwell et al., 2018. New excavations at Border Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Journal of Field Archaeology 43(6): 417–436; https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1504544

Lloyd Austin Courtenay et al., 2025. Identifying potential palaeolithic artificial memory systems via spatial statistics: Implications for the origin of quantification. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 17: 171; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-025-02286-4

Federico De Sario et al., 2026. The dog domestication: new ichnological evidence from the Upper Palaeolithic of the Bàsura cave (Toirano, NW Italy). Quaternary Science Reviews 371: 109697; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109697

M Dolores Marin-Monfort et al., 2026. New evidence for Early Pleistocene use of fire at Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa). PLoS One 21(6): e0347480; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0347480

Peter Morrissey & Dominic Stratford, 2026. New microscale insights into plant-based bedding construction and maintenance between 200 000 and 43 000 years ago at Border Cave, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 191: 106592; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2026.106592

Ana Isabel Ortega-Martínez et al., 2026. Sala Keimada: another Palaeolithic sanctuary in Cueva Palomera at Ojo Guareña (Burgos, Spain). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 73: 105818; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105818

Christine Sievers et al., 2022. Plant bedding construction between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago at Border Cave, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 275: 107280; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107280

Lyn Wadley et al., 2011. Middle Stone Age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa. Science 334(6061): 1388-1391; doi: 10.1126/science.121331

Lyn Wadley et al., 2020. Fire and grass-bedding construction 200 thousand years ago at Border Cave, South Africa. Science 369(6505): 863-866; doi: 10.1126/science.abc7239 [https://hal.science/hal-02998410v1]