Mastering fire is not just a technical feat: it is a defining milestone in human evolution. For a long time, researchers considered that this ability dates back around 50,000 years, based on traces found in France. A new study, carried out by archaeologists from the British Museum and published in the journal Nature, overturns this chronological benchmark. At the site of Barnham, Suffolk, scientists have found direct evidence of intentionally lit fires, dating back 400,000 years. This discovery pushes back the first known traces of fire making by 350,000 years.
It involves human groups well before Homo sapiens, perhaps early Neanderthals, and reshuffles the cards on the technical and social capacities of European populations from the Paleolithic. Understanding who mastered fire and when also means questioning the origins of our collective intelligence.
An exceptional site in the heart of Suffolk
The site of Barnham, in the county of Suffolk in the east of England, had been known since the 1900s for its Paleolithic remains. But it is a series of excavation campaigns between 2013 and 2019, as part of the project Pathways to Ancient Britainwhich allowed a discovery of unprecedented scope. Located in an ancient clay quarry, East Farm yielded stratified layers dated 400,000 years ago. They correspond to an interglacial period called MIS 11 (Marine Isotope Stage 11). This time, hot and humid, favored a human presence in the northern regions of Europe, including Great Britain.
Archaeologists discovered, buried several meters deep, a thin layer of reddish sediment. It was stuck between strata of unheated silt and clay. This color change, due to the formation of hematite, immediately alerted the researchers. This is a mineralogical transformation characteristic of exposure to temperatures above 700°C. Professor Nick Ashton, from the British Museum, says he noticed this layer during a break in the field. Subsequent analysis confirmed that it was a fire pit that had been used several times.
© Courtesy of the Pathways to Ancient Britain Project / Jordan Mansfield
Pyrite discovered at Barnham.
Around this area, researchers collected more than 60 heavily heat-altered lithic artifacts. But also remains of fossilized fauna and plants, allowing a detailed reconstruction of the environment. The geological conditions of the site have protected these remains from erosion and subsequent disturbances. This makes this conservation exceptional on a European scale.
Converging evidence of voluntary fire making
The most determining element of the discovery is the association of converging material clues which exclude a natural fire. Three types of traces coexist in the same area. Concretely: a hearth with heated sediments, thermally fractured lithic tools and a specific mineral material – pyrite – used to light fires.
The hand axes found in the immediate vicinity of the hearth show typical marks from repeated exposure to heat: cracking, spiral deformation, thermal splinters. These artifacts, in addition to being shaped, show signs of use. They suggest sustained human activity around the home. Dr Rob Davis, also of the British Museum, quoted by
The Guardianindicates that these tools have been exposed to intense heat several times. Which therefore does not correspond to accidental or occasional combustion.
The presence of fragments of pyrite, a sulphurous rock also called “fool's gold”, which is the keystone of the interpretation. By striking pyrite against flint, sparks can be produced capable of igniting dry wood or tinder. The latter is a spongy and flammable substance obtained from the interior of the tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius), found on tree trunks. However, this pyrite remains absent from the local geology. Researchers examined 121,000 stones from 26 regional sites. None contained natural pyrite. Its presence at Barnham implies intentional transport, probably from chalky outcrops several dozen miles away.
Finally, the spatial arrangement of the hearth, heated artifacts and pyrite excludes natural combustion. According to the authors, the whole constitutes “ the oldest direct evidence of fire making by man known to date “.
The responsible hominins remain to be identified
No human bones have been unearthed at Barnham, making it difficult to precisely identify the species responsible for making the fire. However, the researchers put forward a credible hypothesis based on other contemporary European discoveries. The dated period – around 400,000 years ago – coincides with the emergence of archaic Neanderthals in Europe.
A skull at Swanscombe, in the Thames Valley, dated to the same time, shows early Neanderthal features. In Spain, fossils from Atapuerca also provide DNA close to this lineage. According to paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, “these groups settled in northwest Europe most likely belonged to an ancient Neanderthal population.” He emphasizes that our species, Homo sapiens, only appeared in Africa, much later, around 300,000 years ago.
Other specialists, such as Michelle Langley (Griffith University, Australia), raise the possibility of Homo heidelbergensis, in an ABC article. This taxon, sometimes considered the common ancestor of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, then occupied a large part of Europe. However, without skeletal remains, this attribution remains hypothetical.
What remains certain, however, is that these hominins had a technical understanding of their environment. They not only knew how to exploit rare resources like pyrite. But also transport them, associate them with flammable materials and use them repeatedly to produce fire. This organization supposes a transmission of know-how, a collective memory and perhaps rudimentary forms of language.
Cognitive and cultural impacts of such mastery
The ability to start a fire on command goes beyond simple survival. It marks a major rupture in human lifestyles. Furthermore, it suggests advanced cognitive abilities among the hominins from the Barnham site. Until now, researchers thought that humans simply preserved natural flames – from lightning or spontaneous fires – rather than generating them.
The voluntary production of fire involves several stages: collection of materials (flint, pyrite, dry fuel), preparation of a hearth and coordination of actions. This chain of actions requires planning, technical memory, and probably some form of communication. As Chris Stringer points out at
BBCthe making of fire can be seen as “ a catalyst for cascading evolutionary change “.
Cooking food improves its digestibility and reduces chewing time, freeing up energy for brain development. Warmth allows survival in colder areas, such as glacial Britain at the time. Fire repels predators, lights up the nights, and creates a focal point for social interactions. Work in anthropology, notably that of Wiessner (2014) cited in the study, shows that campfires encourage the emergence of stories, myths and shared norms.
The Barnham site could thus bear witness to the beginnings of what researchers sometimes call “expanded social cognition”. The home was not just a tool, but a structuring space for the community. This suggests a much higher level of organization and cooperation than previously attributed to hominins of this era.
Source: Davis, R., Hatch, M., Hoare, S. et al. “Earliest evidence of making fire”. Nature (2025).
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