Rewriting Human History: Fire Was Sparked Hundreds of Thousands of Years Earlier

The First Intentional Spark Changes the Course of History

Until now, it was widely thought that the first specialized use of fire occurred in present-day France about 50,000 years ago. We were wrong. The latest scientific evidence clearly indicates that humans began utilizing fire around 400,000 years ago. And it wasn’t in France, but in what is now Barnham, Great Britain.

But let’s look at the facts.

How Fire Helped Humans Survive

Fire—seen today primarily as a threat—was a vital tool for survival thousands of years ago. At first, early humans learned to maintain flames gathered from natural wildfires. Later, they learned to intentionally spark fire to survive.

Although dangerous, fire provided immense support for ancient people. It offered protection from predators, provided warmth, and eventually allowed for heating water and preparing food. While the methods of ignition evolved over millennia, scientists have never stopped investigating its earliest origins. Now, they have stumbled upon a find that forces a total re-evaluation of history.

Evidence of the Early Use of Fire: Sooner Than Imagined

An international team of researchers, including experts from the British Museum, has proven that our current understanding of intentional fire-making was incorrect. While conducting research at the Barnham site in Suffolk, they discovered something that exceeded their wildest expectations.

What Did the Barnham Site Hide?

During their excavations, archaeologists found:

• A fragment of heated clay.
• Two flint hand axes shattered by heat.
• Two small pieces of iron pyrite.

Furthermore, geochemical tests revealed that the heated clay was not an accident. Humans intentionally heated it using fire. This discovery represents a scientific breakthrough, and these finds are just the beginning of further archaeological discoveries in the UK pinpointing exactly when the early use of fire by humans truly began.

The Mineral That Could Have Helped Humans Start Fires

During further work at the site, scientists found two fragments of pyrite—a mineral rarely found in this region. This led researchers to suspect that Neanderthals brought it there intentionally to use for starting fires.

Neanderthals Knew More Than We Thought

The study results, published in the journal Nature, show that ancient people living in present-day Britain acted far more deliberately than previously assumed. They understood the properties of pyrite and knew how to use it intentionally. This significantly broadens our understanding of their capabilities and cognition.

“It’s incredible that one of the oldest groups of Neanderthals possessed knowledge of the properties of flint, pyrite, and tinder at such an early stage. The implications are enormous,”

– said Dr. Rob Davis, project curator at the British Museum, as quoted by PopSci.com.

What Do These UK Archaeological Finds Change?

The early use of fire may have served more than just food preparation. Researchers suggest it contributed to technological development—for instance, creating adhesive to set tools into handles. This, in turn, likely led to significant shifts in human behavior.

Today, we know that the first controlled spark appeared about 350,000 years earlier than we once thought. Perhaps it was then, deep in prehistory, that the true chapter of human history began.

Read this article in Polish: Historia ludzkości do poprawki. Ogień rozpalono setki tysięcy lat wcześniej