Four hundred thousand years ago, near a water hole on grasslands bordering a forest in what is now southern England, a group of Neandertals struck chunks of iron pyrite against flint to create sparks, ...

Fragments of iron pyrite, a rock that can be used with flint to make sparks, were found by a 400,000-year-old hearth in eastern Britain. (Jordan Mansfield | Courtesy Pathways to Ancient Britain ...

Never mind AI, the internet, or the rocket – it's been argued that the control of fire was the most pivotal technological breakthrough in history. It gave our ancestors protection, the ability to cook ...

Set aside your matches or lighter and try to start a fire—chances are you’d be left cold and hungry. But as early as 400,000 years ago, ancient hominins may have had the skills to conjure flame, ...

The earliest known evidence of human fire-making has been discovered in the UK dating back over 400,000, in a new groundbreaking discovery. Fire-cracked flint, hand axes and heated sediments have been ...

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 ...