Humans May Have Learned to Use Fire Nearly 800,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought, South African Cave Suggests

Humans Were Using Fire Long Before Scientists Thought Possible, Study Says

An international team in South Africa has pinned the earliest known use of fire by Homo erectus back to between 1.07 and 1.79 million years ago.

Humans May Have Learned to Use Fire Nearly 800,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought, South African Cave Suggests

Tiny burned bones in a South African cave hint at a much older relationship with fire.

New evidence for Early Pleistocene use of fire at Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa)

Tracing the earliest evidence of burning in archaeological contexts is essential for understanding the emergence of fire use—an innovation that underpinned critical behavioral and biological developments in the genus Homo. However, identifying unambiguous traces of early fire use remains challenging. To enhance detection of incipient burning in early occupation layers, we introduce a rapid, non-invasive protocol based on bone luminescence proper…