PREVIEW

Researchers led by the British Museum have uncovered what they believe is the earliest known evidence of humans making fire – at a Palaeolithic site in Barnham, Suffolk.

The discovery pushes back the earliest known evidence of the practice back by an incredible 350,000 years. That's because the site is 400,000 years old and until now, the oldest confirmed evidence of deliberate fire-making dated to about 50,000 years ago.

Scientists have long known that early humans used naturally occurring fire over a million years ago. But the Barnham site provides the earliest indication of people creating and controlling fire - a development seen as pivotal in human evolution.

Professor Nick Ashton, Curator of Palaeolithic Collections at the British Museum, said: “This is the most remarkable discovery of my career, and I'm very proud of the teamwork that it has taken to reach this groundbreaking conclusion.
“It’s incredible that some of the oldest groups of Neanderthals had the knowledge of the properties of flint, pyrite and tinder at such an early date.”

The evidence, thought to have been left by some of the earliest Neanderthal groups, includes a patch of heated clay, heat-shattered flint handaxes and two small pieces of iron pyrite. These discoveries suggest repeated fire use at the same spot, forming a hearth.

It took the team, led by Ashton and Rob Davis at the British Museum, four years to rule out wildfire as the cause. Geochemical tests show the clay was heated to more than 700C, consistent with deliberate fire-making and multiple episodes of burning.

Iron pyrite, which can be struck against flint to produce sparks, is rare in the local landscape. Its presence suggests these early humans not only understood its properties but also transported it to the site to start fires.

The findings point to early humans with increasingly complex behaviour at a time when brain size was approaching that of modern people.

Dr Davis, Project Curator: Pathways to Ancient Britain at the British Museum, added: “The implications are enormous. The ability to create and control fire is one of the most important turning points in human history with practical and social benefits that changed human evolution. This extraordinary discovery pushes this turning point back by some 350,000 years.”

The ability to make fire would have freed groups from depending on lightning strikes and natural wildfires, allowing them to choose campsites and rekindle flames when needed. Controlled fire offered protection and warmth, helping humans survive in colder environments, and dramatically expanded the range of foods they could safely eat.

Cooking removed toxins from plants, killed pathogens in meat and softened tough foods, improving digestion and providing more energy to fuel brain growth. Fire also created a social space after dark, where people gathered, exchanged information, planned activities and forged bonds - conditions that may have supported the development of language, storytelling and shared belief systems.

Evidence for such early fire use is extremely rare, as ash, charcoal and baked sediments are easily destroyed or scattered. Heated artefacts often survive, but distinguishing deliberate fire-making from accidental burning is notoriously difficult, making the Barnham find particularly significant. Comparable sites in the UK, France and Portugal show fire becoming increasingly important to early humans between 500,000 and 400,000 years ago - and Barnham may reveal why.

Professor Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum, has concluded that the early firemakers were likely to have been Neanderthals rather than out direct ancestors.

“The people who made fire at Barnham at 400,000 years ago were probably early Neanderthals, based on the morphology of fossils around the same age from Swanscombe, Kent, and Atapuerca in Spain, who even preserve early Neanderthal DNA,” he explained.

The research involved scientists from the Natural History Museum, Queen Mary University of London, University College London, the University of Liverpool and Leiden University.