Controlled fire in Britain 400,000 years ago, 350,000 years earlier than thought
Archaeologists at Barnham, Suffolk report reddened clay, fire-cracked tools and rare pyrite that together indicate repeated, human-made fires about 400,000 years ago and suggest early Neanderthals had mastered fire.
- The Barnham site in Suffolk is dated to about 400,000 years ago and shows a localized patch of scorched earth.
- Analyses found clay heated above 700C and fire-cracked hand-axes consistent with repeated hearth use.
- Two fragments of pyrite, a mineral that generates sparks when struck, were recovered and are absent locally, implying they were brought in deliberately.
- Researchers attribute the fires to early Neanderthals rather than Homo sapiens based on regional fossil evidence.
- The discovery pushes unambiguous evidence of human-made fire back roughly 350,000 years from the previous 50,000-year benchmark.
- The study was published in Nature and the team links habitual fire use to food processing, protection, social life, wider climatic adaptation and potential impacts on brain and population development.