Overview
- At Barnham in Suffolk, researchers identified baked sediments, heat-fractured flint handaxes and two iron pyrite fragments consistent with deliberate ignition.
- Geochemical signatures show temperatures above roughly 700°C and repeated burning in the same location, patterns that do not match natural wildfire events.
- The pyrite, absent locally yet known to spark when struck against flint, indicates intentional transport and a purpose-built fire-making toolkit.
- The results push the earliest confirmed evidence of producing fire back about 350,000 years from previously secure examples dated to around 50,000 years in northern France.
- The authors infer early Neanderthals or closely related hominins as the likely fire-makers, while external experts praise the rigor but say the behavior’s broader prevalence remains unclear.