Archaeologists find oldest evidence of fire-making

New study reveals Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago than the 50,000 years believed

- CARL ZIMMER

That is the conclusion of a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Previously, the oldest known evidence of humans making fires dated back just 50,000 years. The new finding indicates that this critical step in human history occurred much earlier. “A lot of people had a hunch that they were making fire at this date,’ said Nick Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum and an author of the study. “But now we can convincingly say, ‘Yeah, this was the case.”

The oldest evidence for human ancestors using fire, dating back to between 1 million and 1.5 million years ago, comes from a cave in South Africa.