Humans already controlled fire in Europe 50,000 years before what was believed

2023-05-24 01:07:59

One of the greatest milestones in human history is undoubtedly the control of fire. The introduction and the rapid expansion of its use, in effect, marked a fundamental difference in our ancestors with the rest of the animals. Considered an important technological milestone for our species, fire allowed us not only to cook food, but also to protect ourselves from the cold and, of course, defend ourselves against attacks by other predators or enemies with ‘controlled fires’.

However, pinpointing when our relationship with fire began and how it later evolved is an extremely difficult task, as geochemical remains left by fire are rarely found near human fossils.

Now, a team of researchers from the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH), in Burgos, the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA), associated with the University of Alcalá, and the University of Edinburgh have found evidence of controlled use of the fire at the Valdocarros II site, on the banks of the Jarama River, in Madrid, dating back 250,000 years, which pushes back the earliest evidence of fire control in Europe by 50,000 years. The finding has been published in ‘Nature Scientific Reports’.

Using fire is not controlling it

Of course, there is plenty of earlier evidence that much older hominids were already exploiting the advantages of fire (such as at sites in South Africa and Kenya, with animal remains burned 1.5 million years ago), but it seems clear that this was the simple opportunistic use of the embers of a naturally occurring forest fire to cook food. The controlled use of fire, however, where humans themselves start it intentionally and then control its extent and temperature, is something else entirely. And that is precisely what has been found in the Madrid site.

In Europe, the widespread use of fire by different hominin species dates back to around 350,000 years ago, but there are reasons to think that, once again, it was more about harnessing lightning or naturally occurring forest fires than making and control fire with a predefined intention. Human control of fire probably developed gradually over many thousands of years.

Before the new findings, the oldest and indisputable evidence of fire control in Europe were those found in Menez-Dregan, in France, and in the Bolomor cave, in Spain, dating from around 200,000 years ago. For this reason, the evidence found at the 250,000-year-old site of Valdocarros II constitutes a new point of reference for understanding how our relationship with fire evolved.

Biomarkers and polyaromatic hydrocarbons

The lipid biomarkers found in Valdocarros indicate that the fuel used to cause the fire was decomposing pine trees. Specifically, the researchers found a series of molecules called ‘polyaromatic hydrocarbons’ (PAH) that are the product of incomplete combustion. In other words, those decomposing pine trees were burned at low temperatures (no more than 350 degrees) and for short periods of time, ideal for cooking food, since higher temperatures would have charred the outside of the meat, leaving the inside raw.

It seems clear, therefore, that the fires of Valdocarros II were used for cooking, something that can also be deduced from the presence in the place of a rich fossil record of mammals, such as deer or aurochs (which are the ancestors of current domestic cattle). ) weighing up to 1,500 kg.

In summary, the researchers believe that the hominids that inhabited the place meet all the necessary requirements to control the fire: use of specific resources such as decaying pine wood; specific activities, such as low-temperature fires used for cooking; and intention, which may be implicit in the need to transport large corpses to a single place, where the fire was being used.

For all these reasons, and despite not being the oldest site with evidence of controlled fire, Valdocarros II is undoubtedly a significant point of reference in the course of human evolution, since it establishes a clear time limit on the emergence one of the characteristics that best define us as humans.