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Health & Science4h 13m ago
A new study indicates that early humans used fire nearly two million years ago, doubling the previous timeline identified in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave.
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Wonderwerk Cave, Kalahari Desert, South Africa
Who
M. Dolores Marin-Monfort of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Liora Kolska Horwitz of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo of the Natural Science Museum of Madrid
What
A new study indicates that early humans used fire nearly two million years ago, doubling the previous timeline identified in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave.
When
Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:44:00 GMT · 4h 13m ago
Where
Wonderwerk Cave, Kalahari Desert, South Africa ·
Why
The team's purpose was to investigate whether bones found in the archaeological layer, Stratum 11, spanning 1.07 to 1.79 million years ago, were burned.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This research provides new insights into early human behavior and technological development, specifically challenging previous understandings of when and how hominins began to interact with fire, suggesting a much earlier adoption.
Story chain
3 events in this thread- Health & Science4h 13m agoA new study revisits Wonderwerk Cave and almost doubles the timeframe for the earliest fire found there, to about 1.8 million years ago, by identifying burned animal bones from that time.Open article
- Health & Science4h 13m agoA new study revisits the Wonderwerk Cave and almost doubles the timeframe for the earliest fire found there, identifying burned animal bones from about 1.8 million years ago.Open article
- Currently Reading4h 13m agoA new study indicates that early humans used fire nearly two million years ago, doubling the previous timeline identified in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave.