Many early people took refuge in caves, but as people spread out through regions where there were no caves, they had to find alternatives. Hunters made tents from animal skins. Other people made huts from interwoven twigs and plastered mud in the gaps to keep the wind out. Straw was used on the roof to stop the rain.

The ancient Egyptians are believed to have been among the first to make sun-dried mud bricks. In Mesopotamia, people developed a way of making bricks stronger and more durable by placing them in a hot fire and firing them. In places like Babylon, bricks have lasted for thousands of years.

*Ice Age hunters made shelters from the bones of mammoths. They made the framework out of bones and filled in the gaps with skins, turf, and moss.