Neanderthal groups<\/a>, while Homo sapiens were still confined to Africa.<\/p>\nClues point to how Neanderthals made the first fire<\/h2>\n
The investigation centered on a disused clay pit where tools were first uncovered in the early 20th century. Excavations resumed in 2013 as part of the Pathways to Ancient Britain project.<\/p>\n
By 2014, researchers began to suspect fire use, but it was the later discovery of iron pyrite fragments that confirmed deliberate fire-making. Pyrite can spark when struck against flint, and its absence from over 33,000 local samples suggested it was transported from distant coastal areas for use as a fire-striking tool.<\/p>\n
Nick Ashton, also from the British Museum<\/a>, said the presence of pyrite shows these early Neanderthals understood how to generate fire using flint, pyrite, and tinder. Further geochemical testing revealed that the burned clay had been repeatedly heated to over 700 degrees Celsius (1,292\u00b0F), confirming multiple fire events at the same location.<\/p>\nArchaeologist S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Vandevelde, who was not involved in the research, described the results as convincing and noted that this find sets a new benchmark for understanding early human technology.<\/p>\n
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