New evidence from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa suggests that early human ancestors were using fire as far back as 1.79 million years ago, pushing back the timeline for one of the earliest known records of fire use by hominins. The discovery was announced in a press release from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The findings, published in the journal PLOS One, were made using a new technique to detect signs of burning in fossilized bones. Researchers identified repeated evidence of fire deep inside the cave, at a location more than 100 feet from the entrance. Because these traces were found far beyond the reach of natural wildfires, the findings suggest that early humans were deliberately bringing naturally occurring fire into the cave and keeping it burning.
The university noted that fire offered early humans several survival advantages, including warmth, protection from predators, light after dark, and the ability to cook food. However, determining when humans first began using fire has remained a difficult question in archaeology.
Researchers caution that this discovery does not necessarily mean early humans could create fire at will. Instead, the findings indicate that they likely collected fire from natural sources, such as lightning strikes or wildfires on the African savanna, and transported it into the cave. 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, stated that evidence of ancient fires is typically subtle and difficult to detect. "Our study provides new tools for identifying traces of ancient burning and reveals that fire was repeatedly present deep inside Wonderwerk Cave," she said.
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." This discovery builds on earlier findings at Wonderwerk Cave, where researchers reported evidence of intentional fire use dating to about 1 million years ago. The previous earliest known evidence of deliberate fire-making dated to about 50,000 years ago in northern France, though a 2025 discovery in Barnham, England, reported evidence of deliberate fire-making dating to about 400,000 years ago.