Researchers have uncovered ancient evidence that early human ancestors used fire in an African cave, pushing back the timeline by hundreds of thousands of years. The discovery was made at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa's Kalahari Desert, roughly 90 miles from the Botswana border. The findings suggest that early humans were deliberately bringing naturally occurring fire into the cave and keeping it burning.
The evidence found at the site indicates that early human ancestors used fire in the cave as many as 1.79 million years ago. This pushes back the timeline for one of the earliest known records of fire use by hominins. In 2012, researchers at Wonderwerk found what was then considered the world's oldest known evidence of intentional fire use, dating to about 1 million years ago.
Researchers used a new technique to identify evidence of burning in fossilized bones. At the site, they also found evidence of owl pellets being used as fuel, as well as burned animal bones nearly 100 feet inside the cave. The technique detected signs of burning in fossilized bones, identifying repeated evidence of fire deep inside the cave.
The findings suggest that early humans were capable of transporting and maintaining fire inside caves, but this does not mean they could create fire whenever they wanted. Instead, it is likely that they collected fire from natural sources, such as lightning strikes or wildfires on the African savanna.
Fire gave early humans several survival advantages, including warmth, protection from predators, light after dark, and eventually the ability to cook food. However, determining when humans first began using fire has remained one of archaeology's most difficult questions.
The discovery provides new tools for identifying traces of ancient burning and reveals that fire was repeatedly present deep inside Wonderwerk Cave. The findings show that early humans were not simply passive observers of natural fires, but were actively engaging with fire and incorporating it into their lives.
A similar breakthrough was made in Barnham, England, where researchers uncovered what they said was the earliest evidence of humans deliberately making fire, dating to about 400,000 years ago. Prior to this discovery, the earliest known evidence of deliberate fire-making dated to about 50,000 years ago in northern France.
