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HISTORY

The Claim

Controlled use of fire appears in the archaeological record at least 400,000 years ago.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

Evidence strongly supports that hominins had controlled fire in the archaeological record by at least 400,000 years ago. Multiple well-regarded studies also report earlier evidence, including Wonderwerk Cave at around 1 million years ago. The main caveat is terminological: archaeologists distinguish between controlled use, habitual use, and fire-making.

Caveats

  • 'Controlled use of fire' is broader than 'deliberate fire-making'; some sites show management of fire without proving ignition technology.
  • Earlier dates than 400,000 years ago exist, but the oldest evidence is more debated than the well-established record around 400,000 years ago.
  • Some archaeological claims depend on interpreting burned sediments and artifacts, so certainty varies by site and dating method.

The Receipts

  1. On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) / NCBI

  2. Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (via PubMed Central)

  3. British discovery shows humans made fire 350,000 earlier than thought

    University College London

  4. Evidence for the use of fire at Zhoukoudian, China

    Nature

  5. Fire 400 ka

    Pathways to Ancient Britain (Natural History Museum / UKRI project)

  6. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from Qesem Cave, Israel

    Nature

  7. Evidence for the earliest use of fire at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa

    Nature

  8. Earliest fire-making dating back 400,000 years unearthed in Suffolk, England

    Natural History Museum

  9. Could These 400,000-Year-Old Rock Fragments Be the Oldest Known Evidence of Human Fire-Making?

    Smithsonian Magazine

  10. The Archaeological Evidence for the Emergence of Hominin Fire Use

    Springer (book chapter in "The Use of Fire in Human Evolution")

+ 3 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Controlled Use Of Fire

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