US EditionEarliest Evidence of Human Fire-Making Discovered in England
Fire evidence includes a hearth, heat-shattered tools, and rare iron pyrite fragments indicating controlled fire-making 350,000 years earlier than previously known, researchers said.
- Published on December 10, the British Museum-led study in Nature reports fire-making evidence at Barnham, Suffolk over 400,000 years ago, pushing the timeline back 350,000 years.
- Researchers have long debated whether early hominins made fire or captured wildfires, complicating interpretation amid sparse, ambiguous evidence despite traces as early as 1.5 million years and Neanderthal claims around 40,000 years ago.
- At Barnham, excavators uncovered heated clay, heat-shattered flint handaxes, and two fragments of iron pyrite, while laboratory analyses show repeated heating above 700°C and pyrite transport.
- Study authors say intentional fire-making enabled cooking, improving nutrition and brain growth, but no hominin remains were found, so early Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis are plausible candidates.
- Some reviewers noted the lack of direct spark scars on pyrite and flint, while independent archaeologists called the evidence compelling amid rising European Paleolithic fire use around 400,000 years ago.
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148 Articles
A team of archaeologists dug up in Suffolk, England, the oldest evidence of controlled fire use, which advanced in 360,000 years the human ability to dominate the flames
This Is the Oldest Evidence of Humans Making Fire
Archaeologists in England say a few tiny mineral flecks may rewrite a big chapter in human prehistory. At a site called Barnham in Suffolk, researchers uncovered what they describe as the oldest direct evidence of fire-making: traces of iron pyrite, or fool's gold, which sparks when struck against flint, alongside...
Scientists Discover the Earliest Human-Made Fire, Rewriting Evolutionary History
🌘Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week. Humans made fires as early as 400,000 years ago, pushing the timeline of this crucial human innovation back a staggering 350,000 years, reports a study published on Wednesday in Nature. Mastery of fire is one of the most significant milestones in our evolutionary history, enabling early humans to cook nutri…
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