[manarth]

We've known that humans have been harnessing natural fire (e.g. sticks/vegetation set alight by lightening) for over a million years.

However, until last week, we thought that the earliest point of humans _deliberately creating_ fire – e.g. through flint and tinder – was 50,000 years ago.

A new find has dated the first instance of deliberate fire to be 400,000 years ago (probably by early Neanderthals).

So I agree - the archaeological evidence and our interpretation of history is spotty at best.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/10/man-made-fir...