• Zachariah@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Now a sprawling international team of archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists, and others say that they have documented compelling evidence that our ancestors’ first known use of fire dates back 700,000 years earlier than prior estimates. Employing a new luminescence technique to date burnt bone fossils, the researchers estimate that ancient hominids inhabiting the cave were likely fueling their fires with animal droppings as far back as 1.07 to 1.79 million years ago.