Scientists have uncovered compelling evidence that early hominins used fire in a South African cave nearly 1.8 million years ago, significantly earlier than previously documented.
The site, situated in the Kalahari Desert near the Botswana border, yielded artifacts indicating controlled use of fire deep within the cave.
Analyses of fossilized bones revealed repeated signs of burning, pushing the earliest known record of intentional fire use back by hundreds of thousands of years.
A newly developed method allowed researchers to detect subtle thermal alterations in the bones, providing reliable proof of combustion.
Additional findings include owl pellets repurposed as fuel and burned animal remains located close to the cave entrance, suggesting systematic fire management.
These traces were found far beyond the reach of natural wildfires, indicating that early humans deliberately transported and maintained fire inside the shelter.
Fire offered multiple survival advantages: warmth, protection from predators, illumination after dark, and the eventual ability to cook food.
While the evidence confirms the transport of fire, it does not prove the capacity to create it independently; early humans likely gathered fire from natural sources such as lightning strikes.
The discovery underscores that early hominins were not passive observers of natural fires but actively engaged with and incorporated fire into their daily lives.
New analytical tools are expanding our understanding of how ancient humans interacted with fire, reshaping the timeline of this critical technological milestone.
