Cave discovery pushes back evidence of human ancestors using fire to 1.79M years ago

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Researchers believe they’veuncovered ancient evidencethat early human ancestors used fire in an African cave — pushing back the timeline by hundreds of thousands of years.

The discovery, made at a cave inSouth Africacalled Wonderwerk Cave, was announced in a June 24 press release from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Wonderwerk Cave is located in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert, roughly 90 miles from the Botswana border.

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At the site, researchers found evidence that early human ancestors used fire in the cave as many as 1.79 million years ago — pushing back the timeline for one of the earliest known records of fire use by hominins.

In 2012, researchers at Wonderwerk Cave reported what was then considered the world’s oldest known evidence of intentional fire use, dating to about 1 million years ago.

Tourist looking at structure in Wonderwerk Cave

Researchers say new evidence from South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave suggests that early human ancestors used fire as far back as 1.79 million years ago.(The Africa Image Library via Alamy)

In a study published recently in the journal PLOS One, researchers described using a new technique to identify evidence of burning in fossilized bones.

At the site, researchers also found evidence of owl pellets being used as fuel, as well as burned animal bones nearly 100 feet inside the cave.

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“Using a newly developed technique that can detect signs of burning in fossilized bones, researchers identified repeated evidence of fire deep inside the cave,” the university said in a statement.

“Because these traces were found far beyondthe reach of natural wildfires, the findings suggest that early humans were deliberately bringing naturally occurring fire into the cave and keeping it burning.”

Exterior of Wonderwerk Cave

Evidence uncovered at Wonderwerk Cave, pictured above, could push back one of the earliest known records of hominin fire use by hundreds of thousands of years.(Greatstock via Alamy)

The university noted that fire gave early humans several survival advantages.

“Fire offered many advantages, including warmth, protection from predators, light after dark, and eventually theability to cook food,” the release added.

“Even so, determining when humans first began using fire has remained one ofarchaeology’s most difficult questions.”

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“Early humans were not simply passive observers of natural fires.They were actively engaging with fire and incorporating it into their lives.”

Though it appears early humans were capable of transporting and maintaining fire inside caves, researchers cautioned that this does not mean they could create fire whenever they wanted.

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“Instead, the findings indicate that they likely collected fire from natural sources, such as lightning strikes or wildfires on the African savanna,” the release says.

“According to the researchers, these ancient humans brought fire into the cave on multiple occasions and maintained it for a period before it eventually went out.”

Liora Kolska Horwitz, a researcher with the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and co-director of the Wonderwerk Cave project, said that evidence ofancient firesis typically “subtle and difficult to detect.”

Inside view of Wonderwerk Cave

The study builds on earlier discoveries at Wonderwerk Cave, where researchers previously reported evidence of intentional fire use dating to about 1 million years ago.(Greatstock via Alamy)

“Our study provides new tools for identifying traces of ancient burning and reveals that fire was repeatedly present deep inside Wonderwerk Cave,” she said.

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Kolska Horwitz 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.”

The discovery follows asimilar breakthroughin Barnham, England, reported in 2025.

Stock image of caveman holding fire stick

The researchers say their findings show early humans were actively engaging with fire rather than simply observing naturally occurring blazes.(iStock)

There, researchers uncovered what they said was the earliest evidence of humans deliberately making fire, dating to about 400,000 years ago.

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Before the Barnham discovery, the earliest known evidence of deliberate fire-making dated to about 50,000 years ago in northern France.

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