It depends on which part of the Stone Age and which areas of the world we look at. From the Lower Paleolithic people did indeed live in caves. For example here in North Wales I am undertaking a research degree in how caves were used in human settlement right into the early medieval period.
Here in Wales we have some of the oldest inhabited cave sites in the British Isles. Bont Newydd and the Lynx cave were inhabited over 150,000 years ago.
Evidence from caves in France and Spain have revealed Paleolithic cave dwellings of great antiquity.
Caves provided good, ready made accommodation. they were not necessarily damp as they would have been well heated by fires that would have been kept alight all day for cooking, heat and to keep wild animals away. Obviously people wouldn't want to share their caves with the numerous wild animals that threatened them but once cleared a cave could provide good, safe shelter. People who lead an unsettled, itinerant lifestyle would have only occupied the caves, probably on a seasonal basis and at other times constructed temporary shelters made from wood, skins, stone an another suitable readily available resources. Some evidence of these shelters is occasionally found but the strongest evidence for their lifestyle tends to come from cave sites.
Here in Wales we have some of the oldest inhabited cave sites in the British Isles. Bont Newydd and the Lynx cave were inhabited over 150,000 years ago.
Evidence from caves in France and Spain have revealed Paleolithic cave dwellings of great antiquity.
Caves provided good, ready made accommodation. they were not necessarily damp as they would have been well heated by fires that would have been kept alight all day for cooking, heat and to keep wild animals away. Obviously people wouldn't want to share their caves with the numerous wild animals that threatened them but once cleared a cave could provide good, safe shelter. People who lead an unsettled, itinerant lifestyle would have only occupied the caves, probably on a seasonal basis and at other times constructed temporary shelters made from wood, skins, stone an another suitable readily available resources. Some evidence of these shelters is occasionally found but the strongest evidence for their lifestyle tends to come from cave sites.