Inside a cave in South Africa archaeologists have found “micro artefacts” serving as evidence for controlled use of fire one million years ago. Che-mical investigations of rock sediments revealed “combustion deposits” or ash from fires fuelled by light plant material and bones.
In a paper published in PNAS on Monday, the researchers conclude that early human ancestors living in the area a million years ago lit cooking or social fires in the Won-derwerk Cave. This is one of the very few studies to claim that controlled fire was widespread long befo-re modern humans existed.
“The analysis pushes the timing for the human use of fire back by 300,000 years, suggesting that human ancestors as early as Homo erectus may have begun using fire as part of their way of life,” anthropologist Michael Chazan from University of Toronto who co-directed the project.
The use of fire and tool making are considered to be a big landmark in human evolution, impacting social interactions, food habits, global migration and physiology in a big way.
Although tools made 2.5 million years ago have been found in a preserved state, there is no such luck with early use of fire as most of the burnt matter is lost or transformed in the digenesis — the process of rock formation.