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It is estimated that humans made fire 400,000 years ago
Humans knew how to make fire 400,000 years ago, according to some remains found in the United Kingdom. The burned sediments, the pyrite fragments and the sylex bifaces cracked with fire suggest that the humans who were there at that time made fire. The oldest known evidence of this is from 50,000 years ago.
The first signs of human use of fire date back more than a million years ago. But surely in the beginning they took and maintained the fires that had been created naturally. However, knowing when they learned to create fire is a challenge, since it is not easy to prove that they created it intentionally. The oldest known evidence to date is from 50,000 years ago In France, fragments of pyrite found in a Neanderthal site and, presumably, facial sylex that could have been used to extract sparks from them.
A sylex facial with heat-induced marks, discovered in Barnham. Ed: Jordan Mansfield, Pathways to Ancient Britain Project.
Similar evidence has now been found in Barnham, in eastern England, but in this case it dates back to 415,000 years ago. The most important test is two pieces of pyrite. In fact, hitting this mineral with sylex stones can produce sparks that can ignite the fire. Therefore, the appearance of these fragments of pyrite suggests that they knew this property of pyrite and knew how to make fire. In addition, this mineral is not common in this region and the authors believe that it may have been intentionally transported to make fire.
On the other hand, sylex bifaces with heat-induced markings have also been found. And geochemical tests of the sediments burned by fire have shown that they were repeatedly heated above 700°C.
The research has been published in the Nature journal.
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