Researchers at the British Museum have discovered evidence that humans were capable of deliberately starting fires 400,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought, the institution announced on Wednesday (10).
The human ability to produce fire is considered one of the crucial steps in evolution, as it allowed not only for heating, but also for socializing and cooking food, which contributed to brain development.
There is evidence of human use of fire dating back 1 million years in Africa, but it is considered to be of natural origin. Finding solid evidence of the ability to produce fire is difficult, due to the disappearance of traces over time.
This is what a team of researchers from the British Museum managed to demonstrate on an archaeological site near the village of Barnham, in Suffolk, northeast of London. The oldest evidence of deliberate lighting dates back around 50,000 years, in what is now France.
— This is the most extraordinary discovery of my 40-year career — celebrated Nick Ashton, curator at the British Museum and lead author of the study published this Wednesday in the journal Nature, during a press conference.
Researchers believe that the hominid capable of controlling fire was a Neanderthal, as fossils of this species have been discovered in the region.
The Barnham site was first identified in the late 19th century. The first indication that it might have hosted a fire came in 2021, when scientists detected intentionally heated sediment. After four years of careful work, it was proven that these ashes did not have a natural origin.
— The key moment was the discovery of iron pyrite, — explained Ashton.
This mineral is used to produce sparks that start a fire. Pyrite is very rare in the region, which indicates that it was transported there for this purpose, the researchers point out.
There were also stone axes that could have been used to grind pyrite.
Sarah Hlubik, a pyroarchaeologist at Saint Mary’s College in Maryland, United States, who was not involved in the study, told AFP it was a “really exciting discovery.”
Knowing how to produce your own fire, instead of depending on natural phenomena, changed the course of human evolution. The warmth allowed exploration of colder territories and allowed human groups to gather at dusk.
But the main breakthrough was the change in diet, since “we are the only beings on Earth linked to cooked foods,” Hlubik emphasized. Cooking, especially meat, saved energy previously used for digestion, which contributed to intellectual development.
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