Overview
- A British Museum–led team reports from Barnham, Suffolk, that sediments dated to roughly 400,000–415,000 years ago record repeated, confined fire use.
- Geochemical and magnetic analyses indicate temperatures near 750°C at a single spot with surrounding sediments unaffected, arguing against a natural wildfire.
- Archaeologists found heat-fractured flint handaxes alongside two small pyrite fragments, a spark-making mineral considered rare locally and likely transported to the site.
- The Nature paper moves the clearest evidence for deliberate fire-making back by about 350,000 years compared with a previously cited ~50,000-year-old site in France.
- The fire-makers cannot be identified with certainty, though early Neanderthals are deemed likely, and outside experts call the case persuasive while urging corroboration at other sites.