Recent archaeological findings have pushed back the earliest known use of fire by hominins to approximately 1.8 million years ago, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. The evidence comes from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, where researchers discovered microscopic ash and charred bone fragments dating to that period.
Lead author Francesco Berna of Boston University and his team analyzed sediment samples from the cave, identifying plant ash and burned bone that indicate controlled use of fire. This predates previous estimates by about 1 million years, which had placed the earliest fire use at around 800,000 years ago.
The findings suggest that early hominins, possibly Homo erectus, were capable of managing fire for cooking, warmth, and protection. However, the exact species responsible remains uncertain, as no hominin fossils were found directly associated with the fire evidence.
This discovery challenges earlier assumptions about the cognitive and social development of early humans, indicating that fire use may have played a role in human evolution much earlier than previously believed.
