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.
Yeah, but how long have they been spitting hot fire?
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.
Hominins. Fuckin shit up since 398,000 BCE.
Sheesh, these are tough—sounds the same but has different meanings. Didn’t know that problem went so far back.
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.
We’re all species, in the Homo.
They love you when you’re keeping the 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.
I’m way more interested that they were apparently also making thumb tacks.
This is 390,000 years before God created the Earth, which makes it even more impressive
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.
Don’t forget light and darkness.
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