Archeologists know that early humans discovered fire over a million years ago, but when they learned to control it–to use it for cooking and for making a central hearth–remained unclear. It’s an important question, as the control of fire is central to the rise of human culture.
Now, a team of Israeli scientists has found the earliest evidence–dating to about 300,000 years ago–of repeated hearth building over a continuous period, according to a release by the Weizmann Institute of Science. The findings suggest that the early humans who built these fires already had advanced intellectual capacity and a complex social structure.
The evidence comes from Qesem cave, an archeological site located about eight miles east of Tel Aviv. The cave served as a base camp for early humans and the hearth was repeatedly used for cooking meat, the release said.
In addition, archeologists unearthed many flint tools clearly used for cutting meat as well as a large number of animal bones. The types of bone and ashes indicate the repeated use of fire, the team said.
The researchers arrived at these findings using a combination of infrared spectroscopy and micro-morphology techniques. Dr. Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at the Weizmann Institute, an expert in the identification of archeological materials, mixed the samples collected around the hearth area with potassium bromide, which were then inserted into an infrared spectrometer. By this method, the team determined that the bits of bone and soil in the samples had been heated to a very high temperature–conclusive proof that the site had been a hearth.
A few meters away from the meat-cutting flint tools were other differently shaped flint tools designed for other activities. Shahack-Gross and her colleagues demonstrate that there was an organization of domestic activities and a planned use of space–indications of a kind of social order typical of modern humans.
“These findings help us to fix an important turning point in the development of human culture–that in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point–a sort of campfire–for social gatherings,” Shahack-Gross said. “They also tell us about the impressive levels of social and cognitive development of humans living some 300,000 years ago.”