The moment early humans learned to control fire changed the course of history.
The breakthrough fueled brain development, transformed the human body and gave our ancestors warmth, light and protection in an unforgiving world.
Now, a discovery in South Africa has suggested it may have occurred far earlier, forcing researchers to rethink a crucial chapter in human evolution.
Hidden deep in the Wonderwerk Cave, a site known for stunning prehistoric discoveries, researchers uncovered burned mammal bones dating up to 1.79 million years.
The previous evidence of fire use, also uncovered in the cave, was a one-million-year-old burned bone fragment, plant ash and charred tools.
The newly discovered bones were found inside fossilized owl pellets, compact clumps of fur, bones and other animal remains that owls cough up after digesting their prey.
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