Researchers have pushed back the timeline for human fire use to 1.79 million years ago, based on burned bones found deep inside South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave. The discovery suggests early human ancestors transported fire into the cave deliberately, rather than using naturally occurring flames.

A team of scientists analyzing the cave deposits identified charred animal bones in layers dated to approximately 1.8 million years ago. The bones lay too far inside the cave to have been reached by wildfires entering from the entrance. This location indicates that human ancestors, likely Homo erectus or related species, carried fire into the cave and kept it burning.

The finding extends the known history of human fire use by several hundred thousand years. Previous evidence suggested controlled fire use began around 400,000 to 1 million years ago. The Wonderwerk Cave evidence demonstrates this behavior occurred far earlier than previously documented.

Fire use represented a major behavioral shift for early humans. Carrying and maintaining fire required planning, cooperation, and understanding of fire's properties. These ancestors could not create fire through friction or striking stones; instead, they captured naturally occurring flames from lightning strikes or wildfires and transported them to shelter sites.

The burned bones themselves support the interpretation. Analysis revealed patterns consistent with exposure to sustained heat in a controlled setting, not the random charring of wildfire. The bones showed selective burning typical of humans preparing food over fire.

Wonderwerk Cave, located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, has provided extensive archaeological evidence spanning millions of years. The cave's deep interior and well-preserved layers made it ideal for detecting such ancient fire use.

The research raises questions about early human cognition and social organization. Moving fire between locations and maintaining flames required multiple individuals working together and passing knowledge across generations. It demonstrates that our ancestors possessed behavioral complexity long before anatomically modern humans emerged.

This finding does not claim that early humans fully controlled fire production.