A pair of inch-long mineral chunks found in Suffolk has triggered an ‘enormous’ change in our understanding of early human life.
The pieces of pyrite – an iron-rich material which makes sparks when struck with flint – are proof that prehistorical humans were deliberately starting fires in an abandoned clay pit near the village of Barnham.
That wouldn’t be particularly surprising if the fire had been started less recently than 50,000 years ago – we know Neanderthals learned the skill by then thanks to a site in France.
But archaeologists have dated the Barnham discovery to 400,000 years ago.
‘This is the most exciting discovery of my 40-year career’, Nick Ashton, curator of Paleolithic collections at the British Museum, and part of the team who made the find.
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Rob Davis, who co-authored the study reporting the findings, told The Times: ‘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.’
Fire enabled us to get far more energy out of food by cooking meat, rapidly accelerating brain development.
It also made cold and dark places more hospitable and acted as a hub for people to gather and share knowledge.
The pyrite pieces were part of a set of finds indicating the presence of something resembling a hearth at the site.
They also included a patch of clay, which analysis showed had been baked.
Two flint hand axes nearby also had fractures which could only have been caused by intense heat.
The hearth is part of a wider Paleolithic site that has been studied for some time.
It took four years of research before the team were able to rule out the possibility of a natural fire at the location, such as a wildfire started by a lightning strike.
Tests showed temperatures had exceeded 700C with evidence of repeated burning in the exact same location.
Crucially, a database of 121,000 stones found in the region showed that not a single piece of naturally occurring pyrite had ever been found in the area, showing it is not naturally occurring there.
The British Museum team concluded humans must have deliberately brought the pieces there in order to make fire.
Previous research suggests the people who made the fire were early Neanderthals.
They lived in Britain around when Homo sapiens – our species – emerged in east Africa.
Experts believe they likely brought their knowledge as they migrated from continental Europe, which was connected with what is now Britain by a land bridge.
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