Ancient Humans Tamed Fire as Early as 1 Million Years Ago, Study Suggests

Making the dark hours useful and surviving migrations into harsher climates were some of the things that were made possible by mastering fire.

Our flame taming may have begun as far back as 1.5 million years ago with fragments of burnt material. Scientists used artificial intelligence to find clues of campfires from a Lower Paleolithic site in Israel.

Archaeological sites usually use visual clues like reddening, discoloration, warping, and cracking to identify fire.

The researchers used a 'thermometer' that can detect minute chemical changes analyzed by deep learning, which can estimate the exposure of stones and fossils to heat.

Archeologist Zane Stepka from the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science in Israel used athermometer on artifacts from a site in Israel that was between 1.0 and 0.8 million years ago.

There are flint tools at the quarry. ane Stepka

The artifacts were found next to animal fossils in the sand. There wasn't a clear indication of fire use at this site.

A number of the stone tools and pieces of tusk had been heated to a variety of temperatures, according to the 'thermometer'. It's possible they came in contact with fire.

The team cautions that they can't completely rule out wildfires at this point, but the clustering of tools and bones suggests early hominins were controlling the fire.

Prior to around 150,000 years ago, it was thought that the use of fire by hominins was only a way to make money. This suggests that the fires are not being limited to campsites.

The idea that our ancestors were already using this powerful technology back then is strengthened by the fact that only a few archaeological sites feature signs of early human artifacts alongside evidence of fire.

The researchers say that further use of the new technique could reveal more about when and how we were able to tame the fire.

The team writes that "examining artifacts unearthed from other Lower Paleolithic sites, including those located in the Levant, may possibly broaden our understanding of the relationship between early hominins and fire."

The research was published in a journal.