Archaeologists discover evidence of Neanderthals starting fire 400,000 years ago in England

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Neanderthals They were the world’s first inventors of fire technology, anecdotal evidence suggests in England. A patch of pyrite at a 400,000-year-old archaeological site in Suffolk, east England, pushes back against archaeologists’ evidence of controlled fire and suggests that human brain developments began much earlier than previously thought.

“We are a species that has used fire to really shape the world around us,” the study co-authors Rob DaviesA Paleolithic archaeologist at the British Museum, said at a press conference on Tuesday (December 9). In “the ability to make fire was important”. Human developmentDavis said, “accelerating evolutionary trends” such as developing larger brains, maintaining larger social groups and increasing language skills.

Since 2013, Davies and colleagues have been excavating an archaeological site in England. Burnhamwhich produced stone tools, burnt sediments and charcoal dating back 400,000 years. In a study published Wednesday (December 10) in the journal NatureThe researchers revealed that the site contains the world’s earliest direct evidence of fire-making – and that fire technology was probably pioneered by Neanderthals.

A big turning point

Burnham was first recognized as a Paleolithic human site due to the presence of stone tools in the early 1900s. But recent excavations have uncovered evidence that ancient human groups occupied the area 415,000 years ago, when Burnham Woodland was a small, seasonal water hole in the depression.

In one corner of the site, archaeologists found a concentration of heat-shattered hand axes and an area of ​​red clay. Through a series of scientific analyses, the researchers discovered that the red soil was repeatedly, localized burns, suggesting that the area may have been an ancient hearth.

“The big turning point came with the discovery of iron pyrite,” study co-authors Nick AshtonThe curator of the Paleolithic collection at the British Museum said at a press conference.

Pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, is a naturally occurring mineral that can produce sparks when Strike against the flint. Pyrite is found in many places around the world, but is extremely rare in the Burnham area, meaning someone may have brought pyrite to the site specifically, possibly with the intention of making fire, the researchers said in the study.

Human use of fire

Because of the importance of controlled fire, paleoanthropologists have long debated the timing of this invention.

“There are many obvious benefits of fire, from cooking to protection from predators, from its technological use to creating new kinds of artefacts to its ability to bring people together.” April Nowella Paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria in Canada, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. “We only have to think back to our own childhoods gathering around the campfire to understand its emotional resonance.”

Researchers believe that early humans used forest fires for cooking. This was an important stage in human evolution because cooking broadened the range of food available and made it more digestible, which in turn provided more nutrients. A big brain is necessary to growDavis said.

But there is limited evidence for deliberate early fire technology, and that evidence is often ambiguous, the researchers noted in the study.

For example, scientists discovered red sediment Copy Fora in Kenya which is about 1.5 million years ago. The researchers suggested that this may indicate early fire use because the main hominin at the site— The man stood up – Had a very big brain. and in Two sites About 800,000 years ago in Israel, charred animal bones and stone tools suggest that the human ancestors who lived there could control fire.

Then fire technology exploded About 400,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found evidence of burning in cave sites in France, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine and the UK, and then widespread use of fire in Europe, Africa and the Levant (the area around the eastern Mediterranean) 200,000 years ago.

But these earlier examples don’t show conclusive geochemical evidence of the fires found at Burnham, Ashton argued. He called the team’s careful analysis of Burnham sediments and identification of pyrite “the most exciting discovery of my 40-year career.”

Neanderthals are “fully human”.

However, none of Burnham’s bones have been fragmented, so no “smoking gun” of animal bones has been found that would prove the site was used for cooking.

That means there are no skeletal remains of fire producers at Burnham — but the study co-authored Chris StringerA paleoanthropologist at the National History Museum in London, speculates about their identity.

“We hypothesize that the fires at Burnham were caused by early Neanderthals,” Stringer said at a news conference based at a nearby site. SwanscombeWhere Neanderthal skull bones were found dating back to Burnham’s time period.

Experts have known for a decade that some Neanderthals could use fire, but that evidence only goes back 50,000 years. Burnham pushes that date back 350,000 years, suggests Neanderthals were very clever Most people give them credit.

Neanderthals are “fully human,” Stringer said. “They have complex behavior, they adapt to new environments, and their brains are as big as ours. They are highly evolved humans.”

Nowell said the study’s results add fuel to a larger debate about Neanderthals’ use of fire and its social and cultural uses.

“There’s a lot of discussion right now about whether all Neanderthals used fire or whether only some Neanderthals used fire at certain times and places,” Nowell said. The new study is “another important data point in our understanding of Neanderthal pyrotechnical abilities that encompass cognitive, social and technical aspects.”

Who started the fire first?

If the researchers are correct that Neanderthals made fire from flint and pyrite more than 400,000 years ago in England, that raises more questions, Nowell said.

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“Despite its obvious advantages, questions remain about the nature of early fire use: When did the use of fire become a regular part of the repertoire of human behavior? Did early humans depend on the opportunistic use of wildfires and lightning strikes? Was fire rediscovered many times?” Nowell said.

ancestors of A wise man were Living in Africa 400,000 years ago and probably did not interact with early Neanderthals half a world away.

“We don’t know if A wise man It had the ability to start fire at that date,” Stringer said, because to date there is no clear evidence for fire control before Burnham.

This means that Neanderthals may have invented ways to make and control fire somewhere in continental Europe, which then enabled our human cousins ​​to move further north to England, heating and lighting their way with fire.

“It is possible that the fires became more controlled in Europe and spread to Africa,” Ashton said. “We have to keep an open mind.”

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