History › Human origins › Homo erectus
Control of fire
c. 1 million years ago (Wonderwerk Cave); routine by c. 400,000· Invention or discovery· Life & early humans
DebatedHistorians or scientists disagree about what happened, when, or why.
Human ancestors learned to keep and use fire, probably first about a million years ago and routinely by about 400,000 years ago.
See it on the History map →What happened
The oldest widely accepted evidence is burned bone and plant ash deep inside Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, about 1 million years old. At Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, about 780,000 years ago, people repeatedly burned fires by a lakeshore. By about 400,000 years ago hearths appear regularly at sites across Europe and the Middle East. Fire gave warmth, light and protection from predators, and cooked food, which is easier to chew and digest.
Why it matters
Cooking released more energy from food, possibly fueling bigger brains, and firelit evenings may have stretched the social day. Fire also let humans live in colder lands.
Think of it like
Cooking works like outsourced digestion: the fire does part of the stomach's work, so the same food yields more energy.
How we know
Burned bones, heated flint, charcoal and ash layers studied under microscopes. Natural wildfires leave similar traces, so each early claim must show the fire was controlled by people.
Still debated
Claims of fire 1.5 million years ago in Kenya are disputed, and when people learned to start fire at will, rather than borrow it from wildfires, is unknown.
Connections (2)
▸Homo erectus probably mastered Control of fireDebated
The connection
The oldest accepted traces of controlled fire, about 1 million years ago, fall within Homo erectus's time and range, making it the most likely early fire user.
When and how
Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, about 1 million years ago; Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel, about 780,000 years ago.
How sure are we?
Ash and burned bone deep in caves, where wildfire is unlikely. No fossils were found with the Wonderwerk ash, so the user's species is inferred from dates.
Debates and open questions
Primatologist Richard Wrangham's 'cooking hypothesis' argues that erectus's smaller teeth and gut, from about 1.9 million years ago, imply cooking, which needs fire far earlier than solid evidence shows.
▸Control of fire was used routinely by NeanderthalsWell documented
The connection
By the time Neanderthals appear, fire use was routine. They kept hearths in caves for warmth, cooking and light, and used heat to make birch-tar glue for fixing stone points to spears, one of the earliest known manufactured materials. Fire helped them survive Ice Age Europe.
When and how
Caves across Europe and western Asia, about 400,000–40,000 years ago; birch tar from Italy about 200,000 years ago.
How we know
Layered hearths, charred bones, cooked plant remains in tooth tartar, and birch-tar lumps bearing tool marks and even a fingerprint.
Debates and open questions
Whether Neanderthals could start fire at will or only captured natural fire is debated; some sites suggest they went without fire for long periods.