What sustained this long occupation?

The physical properties of the cave — its size, its south-facing entrance, the spring nearby, its position relative to hunting grounds — have already been noted.

But there may be another factor: cultural memory.

If knowledge of the cave was transmitted across generations — if each generation learned about the cave and its resources from the previous one, and incorporated that knowledge into their own use of the landscape — then the cave’s long occupation is partly a story about the transmission of knowledge.

This kind of cultural transmission is one of the defining features of human societies.