Neanderthals were fire-makers 415,000 years ago, new UK discovery shows

Scientists in Britain have pushed back the timeline of human fire-making by hundreds of thousands of years after uncovering what appears to be a deliberate Neanderthal hearth dating to roughly 415,000 years ago, the oldest such evidence ever found.

The site, a former clay pit in Barnham, Suffolk, contained heated clay, flint tools fractured by high heat and, crucially, two pieces of iron pyrite, a mineral that sparks when struck against flint. For archaeologists, that combination is the smoking gun.

“We think humans brought pyrite to the site with the intention of making fire. And this has huge implications, pushing back the earliest fire-making,” said Nick Ashton, curator of Palaeolithic Collections at the British Museum.

Previously, the oldest confirmed evidence of humans starting their own fires was around 50,000 years old, from a Neanderthal site in northern France. The UK find pushes that threshold back by about 350,000 years.

While ancient humans had long used natural wildfires, this is the earliest proof they could ignite flames themselves, a skill that transformed everything: survival, diet, mobility and social life.

“The campfire becomes a social hub,” said British Museum archaeologist Rob Davis.

Controlled fire allowed early humans to settle colder places, cook tougher foods and gather in the dark to share warmth and stories. Many scientists think this nightly ritual shaped language, culture and the growth of larger communities.

The Barnham hearth shows repeated burning at temperatures above 700°C, strong evidence of intentional fire-making rather than luck or opportunism. Researchers spent four years testing the material to rule out natural causes.