Life › Human evolution › The genus Homo
Control of fire
c. 1 million years ago (debated); habitual by c. 400,000· Evolutionary innovation· Human ancestors & us
DebatedScientists disagree about when, how or why.
The ability to use and later to make fire, which humans probably had by about 1 million years ago and used habitually by about 400,000.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Fire gave warmth, light, protection from predators and, through cooking, food that is easier to chew and digest. The earliest solid evidence is burned bone and plant ash inside Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, about 1 million years old. Clusters of burned seeds, wood and flint at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel, suggest repeated hearths about 780,000 years ago. By about 400,000 years ago hearths are common, and a 2025 study at Barnham, England, reported fire-making with pyrite and flint.
Why it matters
Cooking extracted more energy from food, which may have helped support bigger brains and smaller guts. Fire also lengthened the day and let humans live in cold places.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Microscopic study of ash, burned bone and heated sediments, magnetic signatures of heating, and burned flint dated by thermoluminescence.
Still debated
When people began making fire rather than capturing it from wildfires, and whether burned traces in Kenya about 1.5 million years old show controlled fire.
Connections (2)
▸Homo erectus probably mastered Control of fireDebated
The connection
The earliest convincing traces of fire, burned bone and plant ash about 1 million years ago in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave, lie with handaxes of the kind erectus made. Fire for warmth, protection and cooking may have helped erectus settle colder and more varied lands.
When and how
Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, about 1 million years ago; possible older traces in Kenya about 1.5 million years ago; Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel, about 780,000 years ago.
How sure are we?
Microscopic analysis of burned material deep inside the cave argues against wildfire there. Older open-air sites could reflect natural fires, so the timing is debated.
Debates and open questions
Whether erectus made fire or only captured it from wildfires, and whether cooking began early enough to drive its larger brain, as primatologist Richard Wrangham argues.
▸Control of fire was used routinely by NeanderthalsWell established
The connection
Neanderthals used fire routinely: their caves hold hearths, burned bones and thick ash layers. They used it for warmth, cooking and making birch-tar glue to fix stone points to handles, a process that needs carefully controlled heat.
When and how
Across Europe and western Asia, about 400,000–40,000 years ago; hearths at sites such as Abric Romaní, Spain; birch tar at Campitello, Italy, about 200,000 years ago.
The evidence
Hearths, burned residues, cooked starches in tooth tartar and tar-coated tools. Wear on some handaxes suggests they struck them with pyrite to make sparks.
Debates and open questions
How often they made fire at will rather than gathering it from wildfires is debated; some French sites show little fire use in the coldest periods.