'Oldest known human fire' from 400,000 years ago discovered in UK pit

The earliest known evidence of fire-making by humans has been found 350,000 years before it was previously known in a disused clay pit in Suffolk The earliest known evidence of fire-making by humans has been discovered (Image: PA)

The earliest known evidence of humans making fire has been unearthed in the UK, dating back over 400,000 years, according to new research. The discovery was made at an abandoned clay pit near Barnham, Suffolk, situated between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds, suggesting that humans were creating fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought .

Until now, the oldest known evidence of fire-making was from 50,000 years ago in northern France. At the Barnham site, fire-cracked flint hand axes and heated sediments were discovered alongside two fragments o