Palaeontology

New discovery rewrites the book on when our ancestors first used fire

By T.K. Randall
June 8, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) According to reports, archaeologists working at excavating South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave have discovered what could be the earliest known evidence of fire use by early humans.

This evidence comes in the form of tiny burnt animal bones dating back 1.8 million years to a time when the cave was likely inhabited by members of an early hominid species known as Homo erectus.

The find suggests that these ancient ancestors of modern humans had carried fire deep into the cave on multiple occasions, though they likely hadn't actually started the fires themselves.Previous evidence at the same cave had indicated the presence of fire just over one million years ago, so the latest find significantly predates this.

Evidence of the use of fire has also been found elsewhere dating back 1.5 million years.

Exactly when our ancestors actually figured out the secret of producing fire on demand is unclear and remains one of the most hostly debated topics in all of paleoanthropology.

Source: Heritage Daily

Tags: Humans, Fire