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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[–] starik@lemmy.zip 91 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is 390,000 years before God created the Earth, which makes it even more impressive

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Reminds me of a joke that sounds like it came from either disc world or hitchhikers guide, but I don't know the source. God created the world 6,000 years before present, this was very annoying to the Egyptians, Sumerians, and Chinese since it disrupted their civilizations for a couple of days. Also. In the beginning god created light, he then had an arrow shot at him by some very blinded humans from Egypt.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 3 points 8 months ago

Don’t forget light and darkness.

[–] PeterLG@theblower.au 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

@MicroWave

It's important to note that they are not talking about humans as we understand the term generally, Homo sapiens, but genus Homo, which started back in the H.habilis days.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

We're all species, in the Homo.

They love you when you're keeping the fire.

[+] WHARRGARBL@lemmy.world 29 points 8 months ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 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.

[–] io@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] ushmel@piefed.world 1 points 8 months ago

There's a whole line of movies about this concept

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Sheesh, these are tough—sounds the same but has different meanings. Didn’t know that problem went so far back.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

Read this at lunch today! Very convincing evidence.

Rob Davis, a Paleolithic archaeologist at the British Museum, said the combination of high temperatures, controlled burning and pyrite fragments shows “how they were actually making the fire and the fact they were making it.”

Iron pyrite does not occur naturally at Barnham. Its presence suggests the people who lived there deliberately collected it because they understood its properties and could use it to ignite tinder.

[–] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 8 months ago

I’m way more interested that they were apparently also making thumb tacks.

[–] DrFistington@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah, but how long have they been spitting hot fire?