Scientists in Britain say ancient humans may have learned to make fire far earlier than previously believed, after uncovering evidence that deliberate fire-setting took place in what is now eastern England around 400,000 years ago.

The findings, described in the journal Nature, push back the earliest known date for controlled fire-making by roughly 350,000 years. Until now, the oldest confirmed evidence had come from Neanderthal sites in what is now northern France dating to about 50,000 years ago.

The discovery was made at Barnham, a Paleolithic site in Suffolk that has been excavated for decades. A team led by the British Museum identified a patch of baked clay, flint hand axes fractured by intense heat and two fragments of iron pyrite, a mineral that produces sparks when struck against flint.

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[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

According to your link and the linked Wikipedia article, that word includes the non-human great apes, which seems rather unfair. It's only the genus homo within the family of hominids who discovered fire. "Human" is probably fine, depending on the exact definition used it can definitely include our direct ancestor species while excluding chimpanzees. But it can definitely also be understood to mean specifically homo sapiens, so there's a lot of potential for misunderstandings.

[–] WHARRGARBL@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There is a difference between hominins and hominids. The link I posted is regarding hominins.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you click on the link to "Hominini" in the Wiktionary article, it says "Hominini - A taxonomic tribe within the family Hominidae – humans; or the chimpanzees and humans."

Granted, that's different from what I said, as it's only the chimpanzees that might be included, but according to Wiktionary it just isn't clear cut.

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

it also notes that chimpanzees are not always included within hominini

[–] io@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

has noone ever told a chimp to make fire? like with a lighter?

[–] ushmel@piefed.world 1 points 4 months ago

There's a whole line of movies about this concept