New research from South Africa suggests early human ancestors transported and maintained naturally occurring fire inside caves nearly 1.8 million years ago, reshaping evolutionary history.
Long before humans learned how to create fire, they may already have mastered something almost as remarkable — carrying it, protecting it and using it as part of everyday life.
A new archaeological study suggests that early human ancestors were bringing naturally occurring fire deep into caves nearly 1.8 million years ago, pushing back the timeline of controlled fire use by hundreds of thousands of years. The discovery offers fresh insight into one of the defining moments in human evolution and suggests that our ancestors possessed more advanced behavioural skills than previously believed.
According to researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an international team of scientists, evidence recovered from South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave indicates that early hominins repeatedly transported fire from natural sources into the cave and maintained it there. The findings have been published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.
The research forms part of an ongoing collaboration led by Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s National Natural History Collections and Prof. Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, together with researchers from Spain, Argentina, Canada, the United States, South Africa, Portugal and Israel.
Wonderwerk Cave, located in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert, has long been regarded as one of the world’s most important archaeological sites. In 2012, researchers reported evidence of fire use at the cave dating back about one million years. The latest excavations have extended that timeline, revealing traces of fire in archaeological deposits dating between 1.07 million and 1.79 million years ago.
To reach their conclusions, scientists employed a newly developed, non-destructive technique capable of detecting ancient burning in fossilised bones. The method analyses the light-emitting properties of bones exposed to intense heat and was combined with chemical analysis to identify burned remains with high confidence.
Researchers examined hundreds of tiny fossil bones left behind by owls that once nested inside the cave. These naturally accumulated remains served as an independent record of environmental conditions over thousands of years.
The study found clear evidence of burning approximately 30 metres inside the cave, in layers associated with early Acheulean stone tools believed to have been used by Homo erectus. Because the burned bones were discovered well beyond the reach of natural wildfires and in areas without guano deposits that could have ignited spontaneously, researchers concluded that the fire had most likely been carried into the cave by early humans.
The findings do not suggest that these early humans had mastered fire-making. Instead, researchers believe they probably collected fire from naturally occurring sources such as lightning strikes or wildfires on the African savanna before transporting it into the cave and keeping it alive for some time.
“Evidence of fire from such ancient sites is often subtle and difficult to detect,” said Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz. “Our study provides new tools for identifying traces of ancient burning and reveals that fire was repeatedly present deep inside Wonderwerk Cave.”
She added, “These discoveries show that early humans were not simply passive observers of natural fires. They were actively engaging with fire and incorporating it into their lives.”
Researchers believe the ability to transport and maintain fire would have offered several advantages, including warmth, protection from predators, light after sunset and, eventually, the possibility of cooking food. They also suggest that owl pellets inside the cave may have served as fuel, explaining why many of the tiny rodent bones showed signs of burning.
Beyond rewriting the timeline of fire use, the study introduces a powerful new analytical tool that archaeologists hope will help uncover similar evidence at ancient sites around the world. The researchers believe the technique could significantly improve our understanding of when and how one of humanity’s most transformative technologies first became part of everyday life.
