Early Humans Were Using Fire 300,000 Years Ago to Forge Superior Stone Tools [View all]
George Dvorsky
10/05/20 1:14PM
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The prehistoric practice of using controlled fires to produce customized stone tools dates back 300,000 years, according to new research. The discovery affirms the cognitive and cultural sophistication of human species living at this time.
The baked flint tools, found at Qesem Cave in central Israel, are evidence that early hominins were capable of controlling the temperature of their fires and that they had stumbled upon an important survival skill, according to new research published today in Nature Human Behavior.
The heating of flint at low temperatures allowed for better control of flaking during knapping. Armed with this level of control, tool builders could cater their tools for specific cutting applications. The new paper was led by archaeologist Filipe Natalio from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Silje Evjenth Bentsen, an anthropologist at the University of Bergen who wasn’t involved in the new study, said fire use among hominins is currently a hot topic in archaeological research, and for good reason.
More:
https://gizmodo.com/early-humans-were-using-fire-300-000-years-ago-to-forge-1845274755
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