Scientists from Boston University and the University of Toronto discovered the earliest known evidence of fire found on rock samples from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

The scientists discovered ash on the rock samples. Their finding is about 200,000 years older than the previous earliest evidence for the human use of fire, according to an April 2 Boston Globe article. On Monday, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that this discovery now gives researchers a tool to find traces of prehistoric humans’ use of fire in other areas around the globe – a task that’s proved difficult to solve.

Research on the Wonderwerk Cave rocks spanned eight years and took place in several different locations before the discovery of the ash, said Michael Chazan, project leader and professor at the University of Toronto. They discovered the ash one year ago.

Chazan and his team did not approach the project thinking they would find the earliest evidence of fire. Rather, it took them by surprise, he said.

‘I’ve been thinking quite a bit about fire in recent years and been interested in this question in the origins of fire,’ he said. ‘We were working and we saw ash, and suddenly, our project took a new turn.’

To study the artifacts from the cave, researchers used evidence of human activity and natural processes, said Francesco Berna, a research assistant professor at BU.

The scientists’ discovery fits within the context of a larger project, Chazan said. As part of this larger project, two scientists at a Hebrew university created a chronology for the cave from which the evidence was derived. With this chronology, the team was able to determine the age of the different artifacts with which they were working.

Chazan said much of the work the researchers are doing goes beyond the archeology of the cave. He said researchers are learning about the local community as much as they can as well.

‘There are a lot of aspects to our research that go in many different directions, but they all provide the basis for these kinds of detailed studies,’ Chazan said.

Berna, the research assistant at BU, said he was incredibly pleased with their findings. The discovery proves that humans were users of fire, meaning they were the first humans to adapt to a cooked food diet, he said.

‘It’s interesting because it’s pretty early along human evolution,’ Berna said. ‘I think that our evidence showed that there was definitely control of fire by homo erectus.’

The project does not end with this discovery. Rather, Chazan said the team will continue to work on the project for five to 10 years.

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Published on April 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm

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