The ability to make fire was a crucial step in human evolution – and apparently developed much earlier than previously thought. Finds from Great Britain suggest that early Neanderthals 400,000 years ago deliberately lit fires and maintained them repeatedly in the same places. The previously oldest evidence came from northern France and was 50,000 years old. Fire probably enabled early humans to survive in harsh climatic areas and to develop new sources of food. At the same time, as a social meeting place, it could have strengthened group cohesion and promoted the development of the language.
Fire can be devastating and destructive, but when tamed it can also be warming and protective. More than a million years ago, our ancestors in Africa probably used natural fire, for example caused by lightning strikes. “The use of fire evolved over a period of a million years, first using natural fire, then learning to maintain it and finally to start it ourselves,” explains a team led by Rob Davis from the British Museum in London. “However, it is difficult to determine when and how the use of fire evolved because natural and human-ignited fires are difficult to distinguish.” The oldest evidence to date that our ancestors intentionally lit fires came from a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal site in northern France.
Fireplace of the early Neanderthals
But now Davis and his colleagues have come across much older traces that clearly indicate early human fire production: In a Paleolithic site in Barnham in Suffolk, they found a fireplace where the heated sediment indicates that fires were repeatedly maintained here. Flint hand axes broken by heat and two pieces of iron pyrite, which were probably used to strike sparks, support the assumption that early humans deliberately lit fires here instead of just using naturally occurring fires.
Geochemical analyzes of the approximately 415,000-year-old sediment showed that temperatures repeatedly reached up to 750 degrees Celsius at a specific location. In the immediate vicinity, however, the soil did not show any heat-related changes. “This supports the interpretation that it was a spatially limited fire pit and that the soil changes were not caused by forest fires,” explains the research team. The two pieces of iron pyrite provide another important clue. This is a mineral that can easily strike sparks from flint and was proven to have been used to make fire in later periods. “Geological studies show that pyrite is rare in the region where it was found, suggesting that it was intentionally brought to this location to make fire,” Davis and his colleagues report.
spark of development
From the researchers’ point of view, the finds from Barnham suggest that early humans, probably early Neanderthals, understood and exploited the properties of pyrite – an extremely complex behavior. “The ability to create and control fire is one of the most important turning points in human history, with practical and social benefits that have transformed human evolution,” says Davis. “This extraordinary discovery pushes this turning point back in time by approximately 350,000 years.”
This means that the targeted use of fire occurred at a time when the brain size of our ancestors was increasing rapidly and approaching today’s levels. The fire could have played a decisive role in this. As soon as early humans were able to reliably light fires themselves instead of waiting for unpredictable lightning strikes, they were able to settle new, colder areas and open up new food sources by cooking meals and make nutrients more digestible.
“These improvements in diet may have contributed to brain enlargement, increased cognitive abilities, and the development of more complex social relationships,” the research team said. “In addition, the controlled use of fire has been crucial to the advancement of other technologies, such as the production of adhesives for making tools.” As a social meeting place, the campfire could also have promoted the development of language and promoted cooperation within the group.
Source: Rob Davis (British Museum, London, UK) et al., Nature, doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09855-6