First use of fire by humans

Burned materials dating back 1–1.5 million years have been found at the Swartkrans site in South Africa as well as at sites in East Africa such as Chesowanja in Kenya, while the Gesher Benot Ya`aqov site in Israel has charred material dating to 700,000–800,000 years old. However, because these were exposed areas, many scientists regard these examples with caution as it's hard to tell whether the burned substances were caused by a natural-caused wildfire (e.g., one sparked by lightning). A more robust case for the earliest evidence of humans controlling fire are the c. 1-million-year-old charred bones and plant ash recovered from sediment around 30 metres (100 feet) inside the Wonderwerk Cave – too far for lightning to have struck – located in South Africa's Northern Cape province.

The Wonderwerk Cave is one of the oldest sites of hominin habitation in the world, with evidence of early humans residing there dating back some 2 million years. It is not possible to say for certain which species of hominin inhabited the cave 1 million years ago, but the team believes it was probably Homo erectus.

Until now, the oldest unequivocal evidence of humans using fire to cook was found at Israel’s Qesem Cave, dating back "just" 300,000 to 400,000 years, associating the earliest control of fire with H. sapiens and Neanderthals.

The findings relating to the Wonderwerk Cave remains were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 15 May 2012.