Scientists uncover traces of fire-use 800,000 years ago | HeritageDaily

Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science have been able to detect nonvisual traces of fire dating back at least 800,000 years, one of the earliest known examples for the controlled use of fire.

It has been speculated that the ancient hominins used fire as far back as 1 million years ago, a period when Homo habilis began its transition to Homo erectus.

Called the ‘cooking hypothesis’, fire was believed to have been instrumental in our evolution, not only for allowing hominins to stay warm, craft weapons and ward off predators, but also for cooking to eliminate pathogens and…