Man made fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, discovery in Suffolk suggests

"It is known that humans used natural fire more than 1m years ago, but until now the earliest unambiguous example of humans lighting fires came from a site in northern France dating from 50,000 years ago. The latest evidence, which includes a patch of scorched earth and fire-cracked hand axes, makes a compelling case that humans were creating fire far earlier, at a time when brain size was approaching the modern human range and some species were expanding into harsher northern climates, including Britain."

"The people who made the fire at the site, in the village of Barnham, Suffolk, are unlikely to have been our own ancestors, as Homo sapiens did not have a sustained presence outside Africa until about 100,000 years ago. Instead, the inhabitants were probably early Neanderthals, based on fossils of around the same age from Swanscombe, Kent and Atapuerca, Spain, which preserve early Neanderthal DNA."

Evidence from Barnham, Suffolk indicates deliberate fire creation and control about 400,000 years ago, roughly 350,000 years earlier than previously documented. Archaeological finds include a patch of scorched earth and fire-cracked hand axes that point to intentional ignition rather than opportunistic use of natural fires. Earlier traces show natural fire use over one million years ago, while the prior clear example of human-lit fire dated to 50,000 years ago. The Barnham occupants were likely early Neanderthals, and mastery of fire likely affected brain development, social structures, language emergence, and survival in colder climates.

Read at www.theguardian.com