New study on excavations
Stone Age people in Europe already mastered fire 250,000 years ago
Researchers may have found that Stone Age people in Europe were able to control fire much earlier than previously thought (recreated scene).
© gorodenkoff / Getty Images
As early as 250,000 years ago, Stone Age people were apparently sitting around campfires, cooking and talking. This is suggested by excavations in Spain. Accordingly, prehistoric Europeans mastered fire 50,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Even our ancestors apparently appreciated a campfire as a place for cooking together and socializing – and probably much earlier than previously thought. In a new study, a team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh suggests that Stone Age people were already sitting around campfires, sharing ideas and cooking 250,000 years ago. Her research relates to excavations of a prehistoric hearth east of the Spanish capital, Madrid.
Stone Age people were apparently able to control fire much earlier than previously thought
“This is the oldest evidence of human-controlled fire used for cooking and social interaction,” the British Guardian quoted study co-author Clayton R. Magill as saying. Until now, researchers had assumed that controlled campfires only existed in Europe around 200,000 years ago. “We pushed that date back by 50,000 years,” Magill continues.
The researcher emphasized that this does not mean that there was not evidence of earlier “organized fires” beforehand, but with their study the scientists were able to validly prove this for the first time.
In the journal “Scientific Reports” Magill and other colleagues from Spain report how they investigated the Valdocarros II site east of Madrid.
Temperature of the fire optimal for cooking
The team found that not only did the site contain multiple fire pits, but chemical analyzes of the substances they contained suggest the fires burned at temperatures between 280 and 350 degrees Celsius.
This is not the temperature range for heating or scaring wild animals, but for cooking, says Magill. The team found evidence of pine and fungus degradation products, suggesting that rotted pine wood had been burned there.
That’s remarkable, Magill said, because there were no pine trees in the area, suggesting the wood may have been deliberately collected to be burned.
“If we look at many indigenous peoples in the modern world, rotting wood is targeted because it burns more easily at the right temperatures for cooking,” Magill explained.
Controlled fire indicates social structures
What kind of early humans might have used the fires is unclear. Also what exactly they cooked. No traces of food were found at the fireplaces. However, the research team is now analyzing stone tools found near the fireplaces, which show traces of animal fats and plants, as well as charred materials.
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“We are beginning to understand that these fires were not only lit in a controlled manner in a central location, but also served a specific purpose,” Magill said, adding that they were most likely used to heat food.
“We can even go one step further and say that if we’re cooking food in a controlled fire environment, that almost certainly means there’s a social structure and a language there, too,” Magill says. He also pointed out that the site also provides evidence that large animals were slaughtered, an activity that required collaboration.
Prof John Gowlettof of the University of Liverpool explained that while the study is not the earliest evidence of fire-related social activity in Europe, the work provides a “brilliant window” into early human activities. “Here we can see that people used several small fire pits instead of one large one, perhaps a sign that they could make fire at will.”
Sources: study, The Guardians