Archaeologists find earliest known fire made by humans

(CNN) — A field in eastern England has revealed evidence of the earliest known instance of humans creating and controlling fire, a significant find that archaeologists say illuminates a dramatic turning point in the human story.

In Barnham, Suffolk, the discovery of baked earth that formed a hearth, heat-shattered flint axes and two fragments of pyrite — a type of stone used to create sparks for lighting tinder — indicates that early humans, most likely Neanderthals, were able to make and maintain fires.

“This is a 400,000-year-old site where we have the earliest evidence of making fire, not just in Britain or Europe, but in fact, anywhere else in the world,” said Nick Ashton, curator of Palaeolithic collections at the British Museum in a news briefing. Ashton is senior author of a st