The Moment the Earliest Known Man-Made Fire Was Uncovered

A stunning discovery at an archaeological dig in the UK is rewriting the timeline of when humans first made fire.

Researchers have discovered the earliest known instance of human-created fire, which took place in the east of England 400,000 years ago.

The new discovery, in the village of Barnham, pushes the origin of human fire-making back by more than 350,000 years, far earlier than previously thought.

The ability to create fire was the moment that changed everything for humans. It provided warmth at will and enabled our ancestors to cook and eat meat, which made our brains grow. It meant we were no longer a group of animals struggling to survive – it gave us time to think and invent and become the advanced species we are today.

The team say they found baked earth together with the earliest Stone Age lighter – consisting of a flint that was bashed against a rock called pyrite, also known as fool's gold, to create a spark.

The Palaeolithic site of East Farm Barnham lies within a disused clay pit tucked away in a wooded area of Suffolk. Earlier excavations revealed that early humans visited the site, leaving behind numerous stone artefacts.

- Authors: By Pallab Ghosh, Paul Sargeant and the Visual Journalism team (BBC)

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