Fuels
Plant materials, especially wood, would have been important as fuel for cooking, heating, and light. Again, the excellent preservation at Lascaux indicates that certain species of trees and shrubs were sought, especially as fuel for bonfires and torches and as wicks for the stone lamps used to provide light in the cave. The charcoal recovered from Lascaux comes primarily from juniper bushes, which provide long-burning aromatic fuel due to high resin content. In addition to wood, bone scraps (which make excellent fuel because of their fat content) were also used, especially in climatic periods and regions lacking abundant wood. A recent analysis of several hundred stone lamps by Sophie de Beaune indicates that Ice Age people employed horse or bovine fat in conjunction with a wick of moss or some other porous material as seen here.
