The moment early humans learned to control fire changed the course of history.
The breakthrough fueled brain development, transformed the human body and gave our ancestors warmth, light and protection in an unforgiving world.
Now, a discovery in South Africa has suggested it may have occurred far earlier, forcing researchers to rethink a crucial chapter in human evolution.
Hidden deep in the Wonderwerk Cave, a site known for stunning prehistoric discoveries, researchers uncovered burned mammal bones dating up to 1.79 million years.
The previous evidence of fire use, also uncovered in the cave, was a one-million-year-old burned bone fragment, plant ash and charred tools.
The newly discovered bones were found inside fossilized owl pellets, compact clumps of fur, bones and other animal remains that owls cough up after digesting their prey.
Many of the tiny bones showed signs of burning, leading researchers to conclude that Homo erectus may have repeatedly carried fire deep into the cave and used the dry pellets as fuel to keep the flames alive.
Researchers said learning to control fire marked a major turning point in human evolution, triggering what the study describes as a ‘momentous shift in the relations between hominins and their natural and cultural environments.’ .
Hidden deep in the Wonderwerk Cave, a site known for stunning prehistoric discoveries, researchers uncovered burned mammal bones dating up to 1.79 million years
Homo erectus, meaning ‘upright man,’ is an extinct species of archaic humans that lived from about two million to roughly 100,000 years ago.
As one of our most successful ancient ancestors, they were the first hominins to walk fully upright and colonize Eurasia.
Before Homo erectus, early species like Homo habilis and various Australopithecus roamed the earth.
These species were transitional hominins that first walked on two legs and used simple stone tools.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One this month, used a new technique that examines how ancient bones glow under certain conditions, allowing researchers to detect signs of burning without damaging the fossils.
The method, known as bone luminescence, involved shining high-energy blue light onto the bones under a microscope.
When viewed through a special filter, bones that had been exposed to fire glowed red, allowing scientists to identify burned remains that would otherwise be difficult to spot.
Many of the tiny bones showed signs of burning, leading researchers to conclude that Homo erectus may have repeatedly carried fire deep into the cave and used the dry pellets as fuel to keep the flames alive
Pictured is the site where the researchers found the ancient evidence of humans using fire
The team then verified the results using a separate laboratory technique.
Using the combined approach, they found evidence of fire use in two Early Pleistocene deposits at South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave, pushing back one of the oldest known records of humans controlling fire and providing a new way to investigate when our ancestors first mastered the flames.
To determine when the fires were used, researchers analyzed the age of the cave’s sediment using two dating techniques.
One examined the magnetic signature locked inside the rocks, while the other measured how long the material had been buried and shielded from cosmic radiation.
The results revealed evidence of repeated fire use dating back as far as 1.79 million years ago, extending one of the oldest known records of controlled fire anywhere in the world.
While the burned bones do not prove early humans were regularly cooking food or had developed advanced fire-making technology, they do suggest that our ancestors repeatedly brought and maintained flames inside the cave.
The researchers said the findings provide a rare glimpse into a pivotal moment in human evolution and could help scientists better understand when early humans first began using fire, why they adopted the practice and how it transformed their relationship with the environment.
