LONDON (AP) — British scientists say ancient people may have learned to make fire much earlier than previously thought, after finding evidence that deliberate fires took place in what is now eastern England about 400,000 years ago.
The results, described in the journal Nature, push back the earliest known date of controlled fire burning to about 350,000 years ago. Until now, the oldest confirmed evidence comes from Neanderthal sites in what is now northern France and dates back to about 50,000 years ago.
The discovery was made at Barnham, a Palaeolithic site in Suffolk that has been under excavation for decades. A team led by the British Museum discovered an area of ​​baked clay, flint hand axes broken by intense heat, and two fragments of iron pyrite, a mineral that produces sparks when struck by flint.
The researchers spent four years analyzing to rule out natural wildfires. Geochemical tests showed temperatures exceeded 700 degrees Celsius (1,292 Fahrenheit), with evidence of multiple fires in the same location.
They say the pattern is more consistent with a built hearth than a lightning strike.
Rob Davies, a paleolithic archaeologist at the British Museum, said the combination of high temperatures, controlled combustion and pyrite fragments shows “how they actually made fire and the fact that they made it.”
Iron pyrite does not occur naturally in Barnham. Its presence suggests that the people who lived there deliberately collected it because they understood its properties and could use it to light tinder.
Intentional fire starting is rarely preserved in the archaeological record. Ash is easily dispersed, charcoal decomposes, and heat-altered deposits can be eroded.
However, at Barnham, the burnt sediments were sealed within the sediments of an ancient pond, allowing scientists to reconstruct how ancient people used the site.
Researchers say the implications for human evolution are significant.
Fire allowed early populations to survive in colder conditions, deter predators, and provide food. Cooking breaks down toxins in roots and tubers and kills pathogens in meat, improving digestion and releasing more energy to support a larger brain.
Chris Stringer, a human evolution specialist at the Natural History Museum, said fossils from Britain and Spain suggested the Barnham people were early Neanderthals, whose cranial features and DNA indicate increasing cognitive and technological complexity.
The fire also opened up new forms of social life. Evening gatherings around the fire would provide time for planning, storytelling, and the strengthening of group relationships that are often associated with the development of language and more organized societies.
Archaeologists say Barnham's site fits into a wider picture spanning Britain and continental Europe between 500,000 and 400,000 years ago, when brain size in early humans began to approach modern levels and when evidence of increasingly complex behavior became more visible.
Nick Ashton, curator of Paleolithic collections at the British Museum, called it “the most exciting discovery of my long 40-year career.”
For archaeologists, the find helps answer a long-standing question: when did humans stop relying on lightning strikes and forest fires and instead learned to create flames whenever and wherever they needed them?
