The Oldest Evidence of Ancient Humans Cooking With Fire Was Just Found

Humans are different from other animals. It's a burning question that some scientists say is related to fire.

The cooking hypothesis is championed by Richard W. Wrangham. There is no known human population that doesn't cook, which suggests it is a necessary skill.

The shift from raw to cooked food gave rise to our species, according to Wrangham.

There is a new discovery in Israel.

Scientists working in the northern part of the Dead Sea claim to have found the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric humans.

The remains of ancient fish that were heated 780,000 years ago can be seen at an archaeological site.

It is not the oldest evidence of fire being used by early humans, but it is the most recent. At least 1.5 million years ago, Homo erectus sites in Africa contained charred bones.

These aren't clear signs of cooking. It's hard to find evidence of the latter.

The archaeological record does not show signs of cooking until after the arrival of Neanderthals. The remains of plants in an underground oven in Africa were the oldest evidence of cooking. The site is only 170,000 years old.

Early humans in Israel were cooking fish in a valley 600,000 years ago.

"We do not know how the fish were cooked but given the lack of evidence of exposure to high temperatures, it is clear that they were not cooked directly in fire, and were not thrown into a fire as waste or as material for burning."

The teeth of ancient freshwater fish found at the site are thought to have been caught at a nearby lake and exposed to the right temperatures for cooking.

The mid-Pleistocene is when populations of Homo erectus were giving way to larger-brained hominins.

Archeologist Naama Goren-Inbar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says that gaining the skill to cook food marks a significant evolutionary advancement.

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The remains of ancient hominins can be found at Gesher Be Not Ya'aqob. Evidence of flint, basalt, and limestone tools, as well as fruits, nuts, seeds, and many species of land mammals, have been found by archaeologists here.

The person who lived in this valley knew the land. They understood the freshwater habitats that allowed this population to thrive.

It is possible that it helped humans leave the African continent and live somewhere else. In order to have a good supply of fresh water and food, hominins need to jump from freshwater to freshwater.

Scientists have argued for a long time that eating fish rich in Omega fatty acids, zinc, and other vital vitamins allowed the human brain to evolve so much.

As cooked fish made its way into our ancestors' diet, it would have made it easier to digest and saved people from consuming harmful pathogens. It would have given the hominin brain a boost.

The fish fried in Israel may have been the beginning of our ability to cook.

Evidence of fish cooking by early hominids can be found in the study, which emphasizes the role of wetlands in providing a stable, year-round source of food.

The study was published in nature ecology and evolution.