Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Humans started using fire 350,000 years ago, a new study claims

A study published this month in the Journal of Human Evolution revealed that fire use became routine among hominins around 350,000 years ago. It means that our early ancestors have been using fire before Homo sapiens did 200,000 years ago.

Researchers found evidence of controlled fire inside an ancient cave in Israel that was home to several lineages of prehistoric hominins. Hominins were the predecessors of modern humans. The ancient cave is located in the Nahal Me’arot Nature Reserve in northern Israel.

Ron Shimelmitz, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa and a co-author of the new study said, “The site known as Tabun Cave is unique in that it’s a site with a very long sequence.”

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