Much earlier evidence of humans making own fire found in the UK
New evidence of humans deliberately making fire up to 350,000 years earlier than previously thought has lit up a team of British scientists – find out why fire was such a species game-changer
READING LEVEL:
Excited scientists have discovered evidence in the UK of humans deliberately making fire 400,000 years ago, dramatically pushing back the timeline for when our ancient relatives are known to have mastered this crucial* skill.
Learning to light our own fires was one of the great turning points in human history, offering our ancestors* warmth, a place to socialise and a way to cook food – which helped us evolve* our unusually big brains.
There are signs that humans were using fire more than a million years ago in Africa, but it is believed these flames were originally lit by natural causes such as lightning.
Finding solid evidence that our ancestors were sparking their own fires has proven very difficult, possibly because the tools did not last throughout the millennia*.
That is why a team led by researchers from the British Museum were so pleased to find a human fireplace dating back 400,000 years near the village of Barnham, in Suffolk, eastern England.
Previously, the oldest evidence of fire-making anywhere in the world was found in France – and only dated back 50,000 years.
“This is the most exciting discovery of my 40-year career,” British Museum curator Professor Nick Ashton, senior author of the study published in Nature, told a press conference.
Interestingly, the researchers believe the fireplace belonged to perhaps the most maligned* member of the human family tree: the Neanderthal.
THE FIRE-STARTERS
The Barnham archaeological* site was first identified in the late 1800s, when ancient elephant bone tools were found there.
The first hint that the site could be home to a fireplace came in 2021, when scientists came across sediment* that showed signs of being repeatedly heated.
But it took four years of painstaking* work to prove that the heated clay was not caused by wildfire.
“The big turning point came with the discovery of iron pyrite*,” Prof Ashton said.
The mineral is used to create the spark to light tinder*. It is also very rare in the area, suggesting that ancient humans deliberately brought it there, the researchers said.
They also found fire-cracked handaxes that could have struck the pyrite.
Dr Sarah Hlubik, a pyro-archaeologist* at St Mary’s College of Maryland in the US not involved in the research, told AFP, “This is a really exciting find”.
Being able to start our own fires – rather than grabbing burning branches from a naturally lit blaze – provided many benefits that likely influenced human history.
The fire’s warmth allowed humans to explore deeper into colder areas, the researchers said.
The ability to make fire also provided a place for humans to gather after dark, likely making us more talkative, social animals.
Everyone “can connect with the idea of a group of humans around a campfire — it’s something we’ve all experienced,” Prof Ashton said.
But perhaps the most important feature was the change in human diet.
“We are the only things on the planet that rely on cooked food,” Dr Hlubik said.
Cooking food – particularly meat – saved energy previously used on digestion that is believed to have helped develop our bigger, more powerful brains.
There is fossil evidence from around 400,000 years ago which suggests that the period was when humans brains were approaching their modern size, the researchers said.
NEANDERTHALS NOT SUCH DUMB-DUMBS
While the identity of the Barnham fire-starters is not known, the researchers think they were likely Neanderthals because of fossils found nearby.
There has been a long-running debate about whether Neanderthals were able to make their own fire, with the sites in France once used to cast doubt on their abilities.
But this discovery “negates* the argument that they just never had that technology”, Dr Hlubik said.
It also adds to a recent “re-evaluation” of Neanderthals, who were long dismissed as overly primitive*, according to study co-author and Natural History Museum palaeontologist Professor Chris Stringer.
The new evidence “fits with the picture of a more complex model of Neanderthal behaviour – and increases their similarity to us,” he said.
POLL
GLOSSARY
- crucial: extremely important or necessary
- ancestors: relatives from long ago, ancient people related to modern humans
- evolve: to develop gradually, or to cause something or someone to develop gradually
- maligned: regarded poorly, criticised
- millennia: specifically a cycle of a thousand years but also broadly refers to thousands of years
- archaeological: relating to the investigation of ancient cultures, artefacts, and remains through the excavation and analysis of sites and objects
- sediment: solid material that settles at the bottom of a liquid, especially earth and pieces of rock that have been carried along and then left somewhere
- painstaking: extremely careful and correct, and involving a lot of effort
- iron pyrite: also known as iron sulphide and fool’s gold, a common iron mineral not used as an ore for producing iron metal
- tinder: small pieces of something dry that burns easily
- pyro-archaeologist: archaeologist who specifically researchers when, where and how our human ancestors began using fire
- negates: cancels out, shows something to be wrong or to be the opposite of what was thought
- primitive: belonging to the first or beginning, original, characteristic of an early, crude or uncivilised state
EXTRA READING
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King Tut items in grand new home
Australia’s oldest Ice Age cave
QUICK QUIZ
- The Balham site now suggests early humans were building their own fires how many years ago?
- While far earlier, evidence of humans using fire in Africa is considered fundamentally different in what way?
- What was the big turning point for the researchers, according to Prof Ashton and why?
- For what three basic reasons is fire considered the turning point of human history?
- Where and how old was the previous oldest evidence of deliberate fire-making?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What is fire?
What is fire? Write a description of fire for someone who has never been able to see it. Make sure that your description can make them feel like they can see exactly what it is like.
Time: allow at least 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science
2. Extension
How do you think the very first fire-starter worked out or learned how to keep a fire going? Write a detailed story about this.
Time: allow at least 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History
VCOP ACTIVITY
Vocabulary recycle
There is some vivid vocabulary being used in the article, and I am not just talking about the glossary words. Go through the article and highlight the high-level language that you are impressed by in yellow.
See if you can borrow two of these wow words to reuse in your own way.
Remember vocabulary is a great way to connect with the audience, but you need to think about who your audience is so you make great word choices.
Who will the audience be in your recycled sentences?