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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Sheesh, these are tough—sounds the same but has different meanings. Didn’t know that problem went so far back.
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.
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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.
it also notes that chimpanzees are not always included within hominini
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.
Yeah, but how long have they been spitting hot fire?
scientists were wrong, say scientists
I mean… that’s the entire point of science
it’s far more honorable to admit your mistakes then gaslighting everyone into believing you were right all along.
you should try it sometime. I think this would be the perfect opportunity.
