Earliest Evidence of European Fire Building Found in Spain

Researchers from the University of Murcia in Spain claim they have found evidence members of the human genus had control of fire 800,000 years ago, considerably earlier than suggested by previous findings (300,000 to 500,000 years ago). Excavations at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar have unearthed over 160 stones and stone artifacts which show signs they were heated. Additionally, around 2,300 bone fragments from animals displayed signs of charring and heating, and chemical and microscopic analyses suggest they had been heated to a temperature consistent with being burned by a fire: 400° to 600°.

When the ancient fires were started is based on the team’s earlier identification of the sediment layer just above where the burned material was found, which they dated to the time Earth’s magnetic field reversed itself, 780,000 years ago. Fire making on Earth is believed to have started around one million years ago in Africa, moving to the Middle East before finding its way to Europe.

Cuevo Negra, ‘the Black Cave’, is a natural shelter sitting 40 meters above the Quípar river and extending 12 meters in from an opening that’s 12 meters wide. Earlier excavations at the site led to the discovery of six teeth and two bones thought to belong to Homo heidelbergensis, a direct ancestor of Neanderthal Man, Homo neanderthalensis.

Like other sites that show signs of early fire building, hominids at Black Cave left behind a variety of stone tools, indicating they possessed the technical skills needed for selecting the right material for striking sparks. Paleontologist Michael Walker with the University of Murcia explained in Science News that it’s unlikely a brush fire near the cave’s entrance could have sent sparks inside to ignite fires that were found between five and seven meters in, adding that dry brush wasn’t likely to be near the cave to begin with, given that 800,000 years ago the area bordered a swamp and a river.

Other researchers told Science News they suspect the Cueva Negra’s artifacts are actually not as old as the report indicates, because it’s difficult to say where the artifacts originally were in relation to several different reversals of the planets magnetic field which are preserved in the sediment layers found in the cave. A 2011 study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, set an age limit for the tools made by the Homo species in Europe at no more than 600,000 years ago. Even at 600,000 years old though, the findings at the cave would still be the earliest evidence of fire making in Europe.

The systematic excavation of the cave was started in 1990 and until 2004 researchers considered the site to be from the late Pleistocene era, however, rodent fossils were discovered from a species that became extinct 500,000 years ago. Other animal fossils include megaceroides (giant deer), wild boar, bison, hyena, turtles and rabbits, in addition to 60 different species of birds.

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