“... next to agriculture, [shelter] is the most necessary to man. One must eat, one must have shelter."
Philip Johnson, architect
The earliest evidence for built shelter appears to have been constructed by Homo heidelbergensis, who lived in Europe between around 800,000 B.C.E. and 200,000 B.C.E. Anthropologists are uncertain whether these were ancestors of Homo sapiens (humans) or Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) or both.
At the French site of Terra Amata, which dates back around 400,000 years, archeologists have found what they believe to be the foundations of large oval huts. One of these shows evidence of fire in a hearth, although other archeologists postulate that natural processes could be responsible. Archeology on sites from hundreds of thousands of years ago is complicated. Claims of the discovery of built shelters in Japan from more than 500,000 years ago were discredited in 2000. In fact, all evidence for humans in Japan before 35,000 years ago is currently questionable.
We do know that our ancestors spent time in caves for hundreds of thousands of years. But caves are only found in certain areas. Whether-they started building 100,000 or 400,000 years ago, their ability to create shelters close to food, water, and other resources provided our ancestors with protection against the elements and dangerous animals. Living close to work also gave them more time to experiment with different ways of doing things; in other words, time to invent.
