Civilization / Foundations of Civilization

Mastering Fire

Controlled fire gives warmth, light, protection and cooked food: the first energy source humans learned to steer.

Fire traces at Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa) were long dated to about a million years ago, and a June 2026 PLOS ONE study places burned bones there between 1.07 and 1.79 million years ago, interpreted as opportunistic use of natural fire rather than fire-making. Regularly used hearths are documented from roughly 400,000-300,000 years ago (e.g. Qesem Cave, Israel). Cooked food is easier to digest and delivers more energy, which is widely seen as one basis for larger brains. The oldest definitive evidence of fire-making (iron pyrite and burnt flint handaxes at Barnham, England) is about 400,000 years old.