When did humans start making fires? A new study finds the earliest evidence yet : NPR

It's easy to take for granted that with the flick of a lighter or the turn of a furnace knob, modern humans can conjure flames — cooking food, lighting candles or warming homes.

For much of our history, archaeologists think, early humans could only make use of fire when one started naturally, like when lightning struck a tree. They could gather burning materials, move them and sustain them. But they couldn't start a fire on their own.

At some point, somewhere, that changed. An early human discovered that by rubbing two sticks together or striking the right kinds of rocks together, at the right angle, with the right force, they too could create fire.

Archaeologists have long wondered when that discovery happened. A new study, published in the journal Nature , provides the earliest evi