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Health & Science4h 22m ago
A 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.
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Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa
Who
M. Dolores Marin-Monfort, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Michael Chazan, Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo
What
A 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.
When
Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:44:00 GMT · 4h 22m ago
Where
Wonderwerk Cave, 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 new research expands the known timeline of human interaction with fire by nearly one million years, suggesting early hominins used fire for warmth or protection long before previously thought.
Story chain
3 events in this thread- Health & Science4h 22m 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
- Currently Reading4h 22m 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.
- Health & Science4h 22m 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.Open article